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Adventures of Two Youths in the Open Polar Sea 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN" 



TO 



THE NORTH POLE AND BEYOND 



By THOMAS W. KNOX 

AUTHOR OF 
'THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST" "THE YOUNG NIMRODS" ETC. 




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Illustrated 



OFCO 77 ^- 



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NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1885 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 

All rights reserved. 



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PREFACE. 



FOR nearly four centuries the arctic regions have been an interesting 
field for explorers, and public attention has been frequently drawn to 
the voyages and travels that have been made in the zones of ice and snow. 
The fresh interest given to polar study by the story of the Jeannette and 
the work of Lieutenant Greely, on Lady Franklin Bay, has led to the 
preparation of the present volume. It is especially intended for youthful 
readers, but the author indulges the hope that those of mature years may 
find instruction and amusement in its pages. He has pursued the plan 
which met with favor in his previous works, and endeavored to present an 
array of facts upon a groundwork of fiction, in the same manner as in 
" The Boy Travellers in the Far East." He trusts that the youths who fol- 
lowed the fortunes of Frank and Fred in their many wanderings will give 
a kindly welcome to "The Voyage of the Vivian' 1 '' and its young heroes. 

The ship and its crew are fictitious, but the scenes of the voyage, and 
the incidents and adventures herein described, are intended to be realities. 
They have been mainly derived from the experiences of explorers, from 
the time of Martin Frobisher down to the present date. It was the author's 
design to introduce all the important incidents of arctic voyages, together 
with the most recent scientific discoveries, into a single narrative. The 
portion of the voyage from Herald Island to the North-pole, and thence to 
Grant Land, is wholly imaginary. (The writer believes that the sea around 
the pole is open in summer, and will yet be reached by a ship fortunate 
enough to find an opening through the icy barrier which surrounds it.) 
Thus believing, he has permitted the Vivian and Gambetta to pierce the 
barrier, and explore the islands and waters which are as yet concealed 
from mortal vision. He asks the literal reader to remember that from 
Chapters XII. to XVTL, inclusive, the geographical positions of the ex- 
plorers are not to be regarded as actualities. 

Many works of arctic navigators and travellers have been consulted in 
the preparation of the book. The history of polar exploration has been 



S PREFACE. 

carefully studied, from the voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot, in 1497, 
down to the most recent publications in England and America. Many of 
the authorities are given in the text of the book. The author acknowledges 
his personal obligations to Professor J. E. Nourse, author of " American 
Explorations in the Ice -zones," and other works; to Lieutenant Lucien 
Young, of the United States Navy ; and to Deputy Inspector-general Robert 
M'Cormick, of the Royal Navy of England. He is also indebted to the 
courtesy of his publishers for their kind permission to make use of illustra- 
tions that have appeared in their previous publications relative to the arctic 
regions and the adventures of polar explorers. 

With this brief explanation of his motives, and plan of work, .the 
author submits " The Voyage of the Vivian " for the inspection of press 

and public. 

T. W. K. 

New York, June, 1 884. 

P.S. — The pages of this book had been printed and made ready for 
binding when, on the 17th of July, the country was electrified with the 
news of the rescue of Lieutenant Greely, at Cape Sabine, on the 22d of 
the previous month. „ (Sorrow was mingled with joy when it was learned 
that out of the twenty-three companions of the heroic explorer only five 
survived; eighteen had perished of cold and starvation, and if the relief 
expedition had been forty-eight hours later in arriving at Cape Sabine 
not one would have been found alive ! 

Lieutenant Greely's expedition has added materially to the work of 
previous explorers. The country to the east and west of Lady Franklin 
Bay has been examined, and a large extent of coast-line carefully sur- 
veyed ; valuable meteorological observations have been recorded; impor- 
tant additions are made to the map of Northern Greenland and the Polar 
Basin; and the believers in an open sea around the Pole have received 
fresh support to their theories. The flag of the United States has floated 
nearer to the Pole than that of any other nation. In Mav, 1883, it was 
unfurled by Lieutenant Lockwood in latitude 83° 24' 30" N., longitude 
40° 45' W. In the friendly . contest in polar explorations the honors 
. have been transferred from England to America, but the whole world 
will share in the additions which have been made to our knowledge of 
the far North. 

T. W. K. 

New York, August 1. 1884. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. page 

The Departure. — Bound for the North. — Description of the Party 13 

CHAPTER II. 

At Sea. — Stories from the Arctic Regions 25 

CHAPTER III. 

Provisions for an Arctic Voyage. — Whales and Whalers 40 

CHAPTER IV. 
Meeting a Stranger. — Something about Kamchatka 54 

CHAPTER V. 
A Visit to Kamchatka 67 

CHAPTER VI. 

Behring's Island and Behring's Voyages. — Among the Chuckchees 81 

CHAPTER VII. 

Chuckchees and Koraks. — International Festivities 98 

CHAPTER VIII. 
From Siberia to Wrangell Island. — Icebergs and a Bear-hunt Ill 

CHAPTER IX. 

A Visit to Wrangell Island. — Hunting Seals, Walruses, and Polar Bears 127 

CHAPTER X. 

Herald Island. — Caught in the Ice. — A Narrow Escape 140 

CHAPTER XI. 
Fast in the Ice. — Going into Winter-quarters . 154 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. PAGE 

Disappearance of the Sun. — Incidents of Hibernation. — The Aurora Borealis . , 169 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Christmas and New-year Festivities. — Entertainments. — The "Gambetta" on Fire 185 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Arctic Newspapers and Comedies. — Drifting with the Ice. — Discovering Land 200 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Land Visited and Explored. — Perilous Journey. — The Ships in Danger 213 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Escape from the Ice. — In the Open Polar Sea. — Steaming and Sailing to the North.. 228 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Icebergs and Glaciers. — "La Terre Lafayette." — The "Vivian" at the Pole 242 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Discoveries at the Pole. — Leaving the Polar Sea. — Escape through the Ice-barrier.. 25*7 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Signal Service Station. — From Littleton Island to Upernavik 2*73 

CHAPTER XX. 

Sights in Greenland. — News from Home. — End of the Voyage 288 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Rounding the Pole Frontispiece 

Map to Accompany the Voyage of the Vivian Front Cover 

Map of the Polar Regions Rear Cover 



Outward Bound 

Among the Icebergs 

Arctic Discovery Ships 

The " Old Stone Mill " at Newport 

Scene in Southern Greenland 

Norse Ruins in Greenland 

Frobisher Relics 

Sir John Ross 

Relics of Sir John Franklin's Expedition . . . 

Captain Hall Among the Eskimos 

Discovery of a Boat of the Franklin Expe- 
dition 

Travelling by Sledge 

Ice-drift of the Tyson Party 

The Cabin of the " Resolute " 

An Iceberg from Greenland 

The Barrier of Ice 

Arctic Birds 

Over the Ice 

Native and European Dress Contrasted 

An Incident of the Whale-fishery 

Lookout on an Iceberg 

Captain Seoresby 

A Nimrod of the Sea 

A Carcass Adrift 

Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka 

Volcanoes of Koriatski, Avatcha, and Koseld- 
skai 

Fort St. Michael's, or Michaelovski 

Kamchatka Sables 

Mounted Cossacks 

A Village on the Amoor River 

Russian Carpenters 

Avatcha Mountain 

Church at Petropavlovsk 

Do<r-sled<rin<r in Kamchatka 



PAGH 

Dogs Catching Fish 78 

Getting Ready for the Road 75 

Boat Towed by Dogs 76 

Monument to Behring, Petropavlovsk 78 

" The Three Brothers " 80 

The Ermine 81 

A Siberian Fox-trap 82 

Sitka, or New Archangel 85 

A Chuckchee Boat • 85 

Walrus Hunting among the Chuckchees ... 8!) 

Scenery near East Cape - 91 

Erecting a Chuckchee Summer-house .... 93 

A Group of Reindeer 95 

A Reindeer Sled 97 

Baron Von Wrangell 99 

Locked in the Ice 101 

A Summer Village in the Arctic Regions . . 104 

A Portrait 105 

A Korak Beau 106 

A Korak Belle 107 

A Ball on Shipboard 108 

" All Hands Round " 10S 

"Balance" 109 

Flower-girl 109 

Fish-woman 109 

The Cook 110 

A Gothic Iceberg Ill 

View of Icebergs 114 

On an Ice-pack 115 

Where an Iceberg is Formed 117 

Vertical Section of a Glacier 118 

In Front of a Greenland Glacier 119 

The Bear at Bay 121 

Scene in Front of the Island 1 25 

Winter-quarters of Barentz Three Hundred 

Years Airo 126 



12 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1»AGH 

Female Bear and Cubs 129 

The Auk at Home 132 

A Fight with the Seals 133 

Hunting the Walrus 135 

Hoisting the Flag 137 

The Siberian Mammoth .... 138 

The Mammoth Restored 139 

Exploring the Coast 140 

On Shore in the Far North 141 

Under the Midnight Sun 143 

Near the Ice-pack 144 

Cabin Scene in an Arctic Winter 145 

Edge of the Ice-pack 146 

Ice in Motion 14*7 

In an Arctic Gale 149 

Hummocks Afloat 152 

How a Hummock is Formed ] 53 

Moored to an Ice-floe 155 

Chasing a Bear on the Ice 159 

A Village of Snow-huts 161 

Eskimo Stone Lamp and Fire 163 

A Hut Submerged 1 64 

Walruses on the Ice 167 

Arctic Wolves 168 

In Winter-quarters 170 

Perils of the Polar Sea 171 

Greenland Native Watching for a Seal .... 173 

Sunset Scene in the Arctic Circle 175 

Captain C. F. Hall, with Two Eskimo Com- 
panions 177 

An Arctic Aurora 180 

Geographical Distribution of Auroras ...... 182 

Fred's Electric Nursery 183 

Arches of Auroral Light 184 

A Polar Bear failing to See the Point 186 

The Old Way of Melting Snow 187 

The Captain's Souvenir of Christmas 1S9 

" The little Captain .... stirred the posset 

with his sword " 191 

Performance on the Vivian 193 

George's " Punch and Judy " 194 

A Fire on Shipboard 197 

Frozen In 199 

Captain Parry 203 

Carolus Slyfoxsky 204 

A Character 204 

A Character in the French Play 205 

On the Level Ice 211 

Ice-log, Line, and Reel 212 

In Camp 215 



PAG II 

Crossing a Crevasse on a Bridge of Ice .... 217 

A Musk-ox 219 

Ducks on President Land 220 

The " Devil's Thumb," near Melville Bay. . . 221 

An Empty Sledge 222 

Coast Scene in the Arctic Circle 224 

A Shelter from the Ice ■. . 226 

Effect of an Arctic Gale 227 

Near the lee 229 

The North Foreland 231 

Climbing an Ice-collar .' 232 

The Lumme of the North 233 

View from Tonner's Island 235 

French Head • 237 

Exploring the Channel 239 

Curious Appearance of the Sun 241 

The Belted Iceberg 243 

A Snow-squall among the Icebergs 245 

Shooting Lumme 247 

View in Lafayette Land 249 

An Arctic Volcano 251 

A View through the Clouds 253 

" Ne Plus Ultra " 256 

An Unwelcome Visitor 258 

Marking a Carrier-pigeon 259 

A Volcanic Eruption 261 

A Whale-ship in Winter-quarters 264 

Grave of Captain Hall 265 

The Burial of Captain Hall 267 

Map of Smith Sound, &c 269 

Dr. I. I. Hayes 270 

Polaris Camp 272 

Eskimo in Winter Dress 276 

Separation of the Polaris and the Floe Party 277 

An Eskimo Afloat 279 

Somersault in a Kyack 279 

The most Northern House on the Globe . . . 281 

A Greenland Governor 282 

The Governor's Residence 283 

A Greenland Parliament in Session 284 

Julianshaab, Capital of Greenland 285 

Ships loading with Kryolite at Iviktut, Green- 
land 286 

Entering a Harbor in Greenland 287 

An Oomiak 289 

The Oomiak and its Crew 290 

Upernavik 291 

The Inspector and his Family 292 

The New Arrival 294 

Reykjavik, Iceland 296 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER I. 

THE DEPARTURE.— BOUND FOR THE NORTH.— DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTY. 

" A LL ready there ?" 
JTjL " Ay, a) 7 , sir,' 1 was the reply. 

" Up with the anchor !" 

The capstan went slowly round, propelled by the arms of twenty 
men ; the anchor left its bed at the bottom of San Francisco Bay, and 
as the cable shortened till it hung straight down from the bows of the 
vessel, the order " Go ahead slow !" was shouted to the engineer, who stood 
at his post below. The machinery responded to his touch, and the whirl- 
ing screw churned a great breadth of discolored foam around the stern 
of the Vivian. Soon she was ploughing her way through the water, turn- 
ing now to port and now to starboard to avoid collisions with anchored 
or moving craft in the harbor 
of the great city by the west- 
ern sea. 

The ships at the docks or 
in the bay dipped their flags ; 
the steamers, great and small, 
sounded their whistles pitched 
to all the notes of the chromat- 
ic scale ; cannon boomed from 
their embrasures on Alcatraz 
Island and the other defences outwakd bound. 

of the city; and a military band 

on a steamboat which followed closely in the wake of the Vivian tilled 
the air with its music. The decks of the steamboat were black witli people 
who kept up a perpetual waving of handkerchiefs and, in the pauses of 
the band, replaced the music with shouts and cheers of farewell. 




14 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



Without a pause the departing vessel held her way to the Golden 
Gate; then she stopped her engines to permit the departure of the pilot, 
together with several gentlemen who had accompanied her commander 
from the anchorage in the harbor. The crowd on the steamboat cheered 
more loudlv than ever; the band played again, its notes growing less 




AMONG THE ICEBKIKiS. 



distinct at every pulsation of the engine, as the Vivian headed away 
into the open ocean and left the shores of California fading in the dis- 
tance. And to many on the deck of the steamboat, as she returned to 
San Francisco, the query arose, " Shall we ever see her again ?" 

The Vivian was bound on a vo} T age to the arctic seas ; she added 
a unit to the number of those that have sailed in quest of the North-pole. 

It was not her first visit to the regions of ice, although she had never 
before gone in the character of an explorer. Originally she was built 
for a whaler: as the whale has been driven from the open ocean, it has 
been necessary for those who desire his oil to follow him to his retreat 
in the region of perpetual ice. In the early part of this century, and 
down to thirty years ago, the huntsmen of the sea found their prey in the 
broad expanse of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. But in these latter 
davs the whale is not to be found in his former haunts, and even in the 



THE DEPARTURE. 15 

far North he is by no means abundant. The successful hunters must 
pursue him where ice abounds through the entire year, and only during 
a few months in summer is it sufficiently open for ships to find a way 
. through it. Frequently the whale-ships are nipped in the ice, and a craft 
of ordinary construction would be speedily crushed and destroyed. 

"She was just as strong as wood and iron could make her," said the 
former owner of the Vivian. " That is, I mean she was one of the 
strongest whalers ever launched, and that is saying a good deal. 

" She is a bark of 490 tons, old measurement ; her ribs and all her 
timbers were the best we could find ; her sides were twenty inches thick, 
and we covered her with extra planking till she looked as though she had 
put on an ulster overcoat for a sleigh-ride. For ten feet back from her 
stem the bow was solid oak, and then she was braced all through with 
timbers, so that no ordinary pressure could break her in. 

"We christened her the Fanny. She has made five voyages to the 
Arctic Ocean, and come home every time full of oil, and not a man in- 
jured. But she had some narrow chances in the ice, and two or three 
times it looked as though her crew never would see land again." 

We shall hear more of the adventures of this tough little craft, as her 
former captain is now her sailing-master. When she left San Francisco, 
as described in our opening lines, she was owned by some wealthy gentle- 
men of that city, who had subscribed a sufficient amount to purchase 
and fit her out for a voyage of exploration. 

"What shall we call her?" was a question in dispute for several days, 
as each of her joint -owners had a pet name which he wished to have 
adopted. 

Masculine names were voted out of order on account of the feminine 
character of a ship. The dictionary was consulted, and also the long list 
of ships that have been in the arctic regions; finally, it was agreed 
to call her the Vivian. 

"Couldn't be better," said Captain Jones, who formerly commanded 
her, when the result of the deliberation was reported to him. " No ship 
of that name ever passed the Arctic Circle ; besides, you say that Vivian 
means ' lively,' and when she's in a rough sea I don't know of a livelier 
craft than the old FannyT 

In spite of her excellent qualifications for an arctic voyage, it was 
determined to improve upon them to a considerable extent. The solid 
bows were extended about five feet farther aft than they were originally; 
additional braces were placed throughout the hull; the bow was plated 
with steel half an inch thick to within a foot of the rail, and the rest' of 






16 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



the hull received a steel plating three-eighths of an inch thick from the 
water-line downward. Thus prepared, it was thought she could resist a 
pressure sufficient to lift her bodily front the water without straining her 
enough to open her seams and start a leak. 

New sails were bent to her yards, and an extra new set was stowed 
below; in addition to these, she. had her old sails, which were laid away 
in the hold. Thus she. was provided with three sets of canvas to guard 
against accidents; and, even if they were not needed for their legitimate 
purposes^ the sails would come handy to cut up into tents for -camping on 
the ice or on land. 




ARCTIC DISCOVERY SHIPS. 



Her engines were not intended for steady use at sea ; she was to rely 
on Her sails under ordinary circumstances, and only make use of steam 
when emergencies required. Four hours after she had dropped the pilot 
at the Golden Gate the engines .were. stopped, the fires were extinguished,. 
and all canvas was spread to bear the Vivian northward to her destina- 
tion. The wind- was blowing down the coast, and almost directly in the 
track the bark was to follow ; consequently, she was obliged to stretch 
away to the westward and make a long " leg" by which to beat up towards 
Behring Strait. 

Three persons on the deck of the Vivian watched intently the reced- 



THE COMMANDER AND HIS SUBORDINATES. 17 

ing shore as the bark held her course. Others would have watched with 
them had they not been occupied witli the work of clearing the decks, 
and arranging sundry packages which were lying inconveniently about. 
.Probably no ship ever sailed from port for a long voyage without having 
much to put in order as soon as she got away from land. 

The trio in which we are specially interested were the commander 
of the expedition and two young men whom he had selected to accom- 
pany him. And, while we are on the subject, we may as well give a brief 
description of the principal characters in the story we are about to 
narrate. 

First and foremost was the gentleman to whose energy the organiza- 
tion of the expedition was due, Commander Bronson, formerly an officer 
in the United States Navy. He had already made two voyages to the 
Arctic Ocean in an effort to reach the pole, and add to the discoveries 
of other explorers. He was a cousin of Dr. Bronson, with whom some of 
the readers of this volume may be familiar, and possessed all the good 
qualities of that indefatigable traveller.* 

Second in command was Major Clapp, who had been granted a leave 
of absence from his regiment, with, which he had been fighting Indians 
on our northern frontier. His army rank was that of first lieutenant,, 
but for the purposes of this expedition he received the commission of 
a Major of Volunteers from the Governor of California. 

Third and fourth were Alfred Chapman and George Bridgman, two 
young men who had just graduated from college, where they were equally 
renowned for standing high in their classes and distinguishing themselves 
in all the athletic sports that were encouraged by the professors. Alfred, 
or Fred as he was better known, had rowed " stroke " in the last boat-race 
(wherein the rival college was badly beaten), and George was without 
a superior in running, leaping, and in the national game of base -ball.. 
They had never visited the far North, but had spent a good deal of time- 
out-of-doors in winter and thereby accustomed themselves to the cold. 

As we have before said, the sailing-master was the former captain' 
of the Vivian when she rejoiced in the name of the Fanny. He was- 
allowed to retain his title, and therefore we shall know him as Captain. 
Jones. 

Dr. Tonner was the surgeon and historian of the expedition, and, as- 
he had a fondness for matters of science, he was intrusted with the col- 

* " The Boy Travellers in the Far East :" Adventures of Two Youths in Japan, China, Siam, 
Java, the Philippine Islands, Burmah, Ceylon, India, Egypt, the Holy Land, and Central Africa.. 
Five volumes, published by Harper & Brothers, New York. 

2 



18 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

lection of minerals, plants, and such natural history specimens as might 
be worth preserving. He was especially cautioned not to waste his time 
in skinning and stuffing polar bears, arctic foxes, seals, and other well- 
known products of the far North. " You may bring back the ears of the 
bears and foxes as trophies," said the commander, " but, as to loading the 
ship with specimens that abound in all the museums, we won't think of it." 

The crew of twenty men had been carefully selected from a great 
number of applicants. All were comparatively young, and at least twelve 
of them had been to the North on whaling voyages, and knew something 
of the dangers and hardships of the journey before them. We shall be- 
come better acquainted with the entire party as time goes on. 

Major Clapp was occupied with the stowing of the cargo, so that Com- 
mander Bronson was left with Fred and George to watch the land and 
talk of the subject that was uppermost in their minds. Dr. Tonner was 
busy with the journal of the expedition, and determined to record the 
incidents of their departure before he had time to forget anything. We 
are indebted to his notes for much that we shall present in this volume. 

" I have not had time to explain fully the plans of the expedition," 
said the commander, " and we may as well devote our leisure to them 
now. Dr. Tonner has the whole story in his journal, and as soon as he 
comes on deck we will have him read it over to us." 

Fred and George nodded assent, as they could hardly do otherwise, 
and the conversation turned to other than arctic topics till the doctor 
appeared. When the desire of Commander Bronson was made known 
to him, Dr. Tonner went for his journal and proceeded to read its open- 
ing pages. They contained a brief history of arctic and antarctic explo- 
ration, and included many names that have become famous in history. 

Before beginning to read from his journal, the doctor requested his 
listeners not to be reluctant about asking questions, as he wished to make 
every point perfectly clear to all of them. They agreed to the suggestion, 
and, as it was fully carried out, the perusal of the journal took the form 
of a dialogue, and resulted in the young men learning a great deal that 
they did not know before. 

" A good many people believe," began the Doctor, " that the discovery 
of America by Europeans was made from the arctic regions, and not by 
Columbus in his celebrated voyage from Spain." 

" I have read something about it," said Fred, " but had forgotten the 
fact till this moment." 

"Nearly five hundred years before the time of Columbus," continued 
the Doctor, " a Norwegian voyager came from Iceland to the coast of 



THE NOKTHMEN. 



19 







THE "OLD STONE MILL AT NEWPORT. 



North America, which he descended as far south as Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island — at least such is the account. He named the country Vin- 
land, owing to the large number of vines that he found growing wild, and 
he is credited with the construction of the Old Stone Mill at Newport. 
There has been a great deal of discussion about the antiquity of the old 
mill, and its origin is not yet fully settled ; but the claim for its construc- 
tion by the Northmen has a large number of supporters. Whether they 
built the mill or not, it is pretty certain that they visited the coast of 
North America, and on their return told what they had seen. About 
that time the Northmen explored Baffin's Bay, where they built monu- 
ments which were discovered in the early part of the present century. 
They established colonies on the coast of Greenland which existed for 



20 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



several hundred years, and can still be traced in the ruins of buildings 
where the villages stood. 

" They also made settlements on the shores of Spitsbergen, and their 
expeditions were pushed far to the north in pursuit of whales, seals, and 
other products of the sea. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries these 
colonies flourished, and we may credit the Northmen with being the first 
explorers beyond the Arctic Circle." 

One of the youths asked if the Northmen left any history of their 
discoveries. 

" They did not," was the reply, " except a few fragmentary records 
in some of the old chronicles of Iceland and Norway which tell the 
adventures of Eric the Red and his sons. Eric planted the colonies in 
Greenland, and his son Leif made the first voyage to Newfoundland and 
the coast of New England. The Icelandic chronicles mention other voy- 
ages to the same region, and their 
stories are confirmed by Adam of 
Bremen and by Nicolo Zeno, a Ve- 
netian, who went to Greenland near 
the end of the fourteenth century, 
and heard while there about a great 
country to the west and south. Ac- 
cording to one account he visited the 
country he described ; and, if the 
story is true, the Venetian Zeno stood 
on the soil of America a century in 
advance of the Genoese Columbus." 
" What a perfect cyclopaedia of 
knowledge the Doctor is," said Fred, 
in a whisper to George. 
I shouldn't wonder if his cabin is 
stuffed full of cyclopaedias and all the latest works on arctic exploration. 
I hope so, at any rate, as we can best accomplish the objects of our voyage 
by knowing what others have done before us." 

" The Cabots, John and Sebastian, in 1497, were the next explorers of 
the arctic seas, as they projected a voyage to the North-pole, and hoped 
to go around America to the Pacific Ocean. They went beyond the sixty- 
seventh degree of latitude, having previously visited Labrador, but were 
turned back by the ice in Davis's Strait. They may be said to have been 
the first seekers for the north-west passage, and have had many imitators 
no more successful than themselves." 




SCENE IN SOUTHERN GREENLAND. 



"Yes," replied the latter, "and 



AN ANCIENT CHURCH. 



21 



£7«&g 




99 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




FROBISHER KELICS. 



" I have a long list here," continued Dr. Tonner, " of the early advent- 
urers in the arctic regions, and what they endeavored to accomplish. 
Unhappily, the story is in many cases a story of disaster, and it is a credit 
to the courage and persistence of mankind that where many have failed 

others are always ready to come for- 
ward to fill their places. The battle 
for the pole will never cease till 
some one has stood on the point 
where latitude and longitude cease 
to exist, and has spread his country's 
flag to the icy breeze. 

"About a.d. 1500-02," the Doc- 
tor read from his notes, " the Broth- 
ers Cortereal made three voyages to 
the North, but without important 
results ; fifty years later Sir Hugh 
Willoughby and his crew perished 
in the effort to find the north-west 
passage ; and in 1576-78 Martin 
Frobisher made three voyages among the fields of ice, and discovered 
the strait which bears his name. Eelics of Frobisher were found in 1861 
by Captain Hall, who sent them to the British Museum. Ten years 
later came Davis, whose name is preserved in the strait he discovered 
and explored ; and after him were a host of explorers from most of the 
nations of Europe, all in search of a new road to the Indies by way of 
the northern sea. English, French, Dutch, and Danes struggled for the 
prize, but all in vain. Henry Hudson was sent to find a passage around 
North America to India ; and to his failure in this attempt we may 
attribute his southerly voyage, which resulted in the discovery of the Bay 
of New York and the river which flows into it from the north, and keeps 
the name of Hudson fresh in our memory. 

" While these and later expeditions were in progress on the east, the 
Russians were busy on the other side of the Arctic Ocean. The most 
noted enterprise of the Russians in the last century was commanded by 
Vitus Behring, who sailed in 1741 from Petropavlovsk, in Kamchatka ; the 
Russian histories say that the sails of his ships were of deer-skins, and the 
cordage was of thongs of the same material. Nothing important came of 
his voyage, nor of the expeditions of Shalaroff, Andreyeff, and Captain 
Billings ; the latter an Englishman in the Russian service,who attempted 
to reach the pole from the mouth of the Kolyma River, in Siberia. The 



ROSS AND BARRY. 



23 



most famous of the Russian expeditions is that of Yon Wrangell and 
Anjou, in 1820-23, which was made over the ice, but got no farther north 
than latitude 70° 51/, where progress was stopped by open water. 

" Coming down to the present century," said the Doctor, partly reading 
and partly in a conversational tone, " we have the expedition of Ross and 
Parry in 1818, and that of Captain Buchan and Lieutenant (afterwards 
Sir John) Franklin in the same year. Ross and Parry went in search of 
the north-west passage, while Buchan and Franklin were ordered to go to 
the North-pole if possible. It is needless to say that both expeditions were 
unsuccessful ; the one did not find the desired road to India, and the other 
failed to reach the pole. 




SIR JOHN ROSS. 



" Captain Ross, who afterwards became Sir John Ross, made three 
voyages to the arctic regions, the last being in 1850 in search of Sir John 
Franklin. He must not be confounded with his nephew, Sir James Ross, 
who sailed with him on his first voyage, and afterwards was an officer 
under Captain Parry in his four voyages, between 1819 and 1827. In 
1839 he went on a voyage of antarctic discovery, aud was absent four 
years in the southern hemisphere." 



24 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" Was he the discoverer of the antarctic continent ?" one of the youths 
inquired. 

" He was, and he was not," replied the Doctor. " When he reached the 
antarctic continent, and hoisted the English flag upon it, he supposed he 
was the first to see that hitherto unknown land. But it happened that a 
few months earlier Commander Wilkes of the United States Navy had 
discovered the antarctic continent at a different point, and traced its 
coast for several hundred miles. The discovery of Captain Ross was 
entirely independent of that of Commander Wilkes, and neither knew 
what the other had done until a long time after." 

" Is it fully determined," asked Fred, " that the South-pole is sur- 
rounded by laud?" 

"Exploration in that direction has been so limited that it would be 
rash to assert that there is an antarctic continent of any great extent. 
Commander Wilkes saw the land at only a few points, as he was separated 
from it by an immense field of ice ; and it is quite possible that what he 
regarded as the coast-line was nothing more than a series of islands. At 
the point reached by Captain Ross there were mountains ten or twelve 
thousand feet high ; one of them was an active volcano, which he named 
Mount Erebus in honor of the ship he commanded. 

" There has been," added the Doctor, " very little exploration of the 
antarctic regions compared with the attempts to reach the North-pole ; 
but it is the general belief of geographers that the South-pole is sur- 
rounded by land, and the quantity of ice there is much greater than at the 
north. Thus far nothing resembling an open sea has been discovered 
there, and every explorer has been stopped by immense fields of ice. On 
the other hand, open water has been found as far north as most of the 
explorers have ever been, and many geographers believe that the pole is 
surrounded by an iceless sea, easy to navigate if we could only get to it." 

" And what is really the case ?" 

" That is what we want to find out," replied the Doctor with a smile, as 
lie closed his journal and promised to give them another talk on the sub- 
ject of arctic discovery at a later date. "Is it polynia or paleocrystic ?" 

" Polynia means an iceless sea around the pole," continued Dr. Tonner, 
" and the name was given by the Russians. Paleocrystic means a sea of 
ancient ice, and is the term used by those who believe that the pole is 
surrounded by an area of ice that never melts, but is piled up in enor- 
mous masses quite impassable by man. The advocates of each theory 
are able to give sound reasons for their belief; let us hope that we may 
prove which is the correct one." 



THE FIRST NIGHT AT SEA. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

AT SEA.— STORIES FROM THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 

ALL who were not required for duty on board the Vivian retired early 
on the first night at sea. There had been little sleep on shore the 
night before, as the officers were entertained at a dinner given in their 
honor at the Palace Hotel by the gentlemen who had contributed to the 
enterprise, and the dinner had lasted until long after midnight. Fred and 
George consoled themselves for their late hours with the reflection that it 
would be a long while before they could sit down to a similar feast, and it 
was well to make the most of it. 

In accordance with the nautical custom, Captain Jones had divided the 
crew into watches ; at eight o'clock the starboard watch was set, and the 
men off duty went below. The night was clear, and the Vivian sped 
along under full sail, heading into the wind as much as possible in the 
effort to beat to the north. As the sun went down the land was visible 
on the eastern horizon, but by morning all trace of it had disappeared, and 
the bark was in the open ocean, with nothing but sea and sky within the 
line of vision. 

Fred and George were on deck soon after six o'clock, and the freshness 
of their faces showed that they had made up for previous loss of sleep. 
Neither had been disturbed in the least by the motion of the vessel, and 
as it was their first sea-voyage, each congratulated the other on the pros- 
pect of their becoming good sailors. 

" I suppose, though," said George, " that we have not been tried yet, as 
we have had very little rolling and pitching since we left port. Every 
day of this sort of weather increases the chance that we will not be sea- 
sick at all, and if it keeps up a week or so without change, we shall then 
be ready for a blow." 

" Don't feel too confident," said Captain Jones, who joined them from 
below. " I've known men who were not disturbed in their digestion for 
nearly a month, but became the most sea-sick of mortals when they caught 
a strong gale from the north. This part of the Pacific is well enough, but 



26 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

when you get above the fiftieth parallel you'll often find it as bad as the 
Atlantic." 

Then the captain amused them with stories of his experiences as a 
whaler among the icebergs until seven o'clock, when breakfast was an- 
nounced. Descending to the cabin they met the commander and Major 
Clapp, and soon after they were seated at table the Doctor made his ap- 
pearance. He. was not habitually an early riser, and often came late to 
breakfast, always making the excuse that his appetite was light in the 
morning, and a very little food would be sufficient for his purpose. 

After the usual greetings had been made, the conversation naturally 
turned upon the object of their voyage, and their hopes and fears for its 
result. 

George asked how many arctic expeditions had been sent out. 

" Nearly three hundred in all," replied the Doctor, " if w T e include those 
which have gone by land in America and Russia, instead of proceeding by 
sea." 

"And how many of these expeditions have been lost altogether?" Fred 
inquired. 

" Less than you would suppose," the Doctor replied. " Only two expe- 
ditions have been completely lost, and their destruction was due to igno- 
rance of facts which have since been demonstrated. More than three 
hundred years ago Sir Hugh Willoughby and all his companions died of 
starvation on the coast of Lapland, within a short distance of a native set- 
tlement where there were plenty of reindeer. The expedition was poorly 
provided, and totally unfitted for the severity of an arctic winter. It w r as 
fitted out by an association of merchants, who hoped to reach India by the 
north-west passage ; and out of the entire company of one hundred and 
thirty-six there were eighteen merchants engaged in the venture. 

" The other expedition, which has been entirely lost, was, as you are 
well aware, that of Sir John Franklin, consisting of the ships Erebus and 
Terror, the latter commanded by Captain Crozier. The expedition sailed 
from England in May, 1845, and was last seen by a whaler in Baffin's 
Bay, on the 26th of July of the same year. The ships were then moored 
to an iceberg, waiting for an opportunity to enter Lancaster Sound. For 
a long time the fate of the ships and their crews was a mystery, but it is 
now clearly known. 

" The disappearance of the Erebus and Terror, gave an impetus to 
arctic exploration, as it led to more than twenty search expeditions, some 
on Government account, and others by private subscriptions. In a single 
year (1850) no less than twelve vessels went to the polar regions in search 



M'CLINTOCK'S EXPEDITION. 



27 



of Sir John Franklin, in addition to several sledging parties and land ex- 
peditions. No traces of the missing ships and their crews were found, but 
the search was continued at various intervals until quite recently. 




'#-, 
^ 



RELICS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN S EXPEDITION. 



"The mystery was solved by M'Clintock's expedition in 1859, which 
discovered records showing that Franklin died June 11, 1847, and that 
the crews had been forced to abandon the ships, which were crushed by 
the ice. The natives reported that the party went southward over the ice, 
with their boats mounted on sledges, and that many of the men fell and 
died on the way." 

One of the youths asked if the records found by Captain M'Clintock 
gave a history of the expedition down to the time the ships were aban- 
doned. 

" They did not," was the reply. " The records consisted of a slip of 
paper enclosed in a tin case. There were two memoranda, one dated 
May 2S, 1847, on board the ships, and the other April 25, 1S4S, on the 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



same slip of paper as the other, but in a different handwriting. The 
latter said the ships were abandoned April 22, 1848, having been beset 
in the ice since September 12, 1846. It mentioned the date of Sir John 
Franklin's death, and said that, down to the writing of the record, out of 
a total of one hundred and twenty-nine persons, twenty-four had died. 

"A few days before the records were found, Captain M'Clintock dis- 
covered a boat fitted to a sledge and containing two skeletons, some guns 
and ammunition, Sir John Franklin's silver tea -set, some tea, chocolate, 
tobacco, and other things. Many other relics of the expedition were found 
in the neighborhood or bought from the natives, and from the accounts 
given by the latter it was evident that the entire party had perished. 

" Captain Hall, an American explorer, who made three voyages to the 
Arctic Ocean and died in Greenland in 1871, discovered additional traces 
and relics of Sir John Frankliu's expedition, but made no material addi- 
tion to its history. He was an enthusiast on the subject, and entertained 
the belief that some of the Franklin party remained alive for ten or 
twelve years after the loss of the ships. His first voyage covered a period 

of two years, and on his second 
visit he remained five years 
among the Eskimos, learning 
their language and becoming 
familiar with their ways. He 
adopted their dress and mode of 
life, and at length -became so ac- 
customed to the food of the na- 
tives that he preferred it to the 
dishes of civilization. 

"He had a relish for raw seal- 
meat, which he pronounced supe- 
rior to the finest beefsteak ever cooked, and he was perfectly happy when 
sitting down to dinner in an Eskimo hut — a performance that would 
not result agreeably to the stomach of an ordinary man. In the account 
of his travels he describes one of these parties, where a whole family, in- 
cluding half a dozen dogs, entertained him with a feast which began with 
raw seal and frozen fish, and terminated with stewed seal, cooked in a pot 
that had no other cleaning than what it received from the tongues of the 
dogs. Probably his appetite was sharpened by hunger, which in all ages 
has been pronounced the best sauce. 

"But we are wandering from the searches for Sir John Franklin, 
which we may as well finish before we go on to other topics. 




CAPTAIN HALL AMONG THE ESKIMOS. 



FINDING THE BOAT. 



29 




30 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" After it was definitely ascertained that all the members of the Frank- 
lin expedition had perished, there was a great desire to find its records. 
Information came from time to time concerning books which the retreat- 
ing explorers carried with them after leaving the ships, and some of the 
natives said these books had been buried in a cairn of stones which the 
white men erected. The most definite statement came in 1876. A party 
of Eskimos were visiting the bark A. Houghton, which was wintering 
near Marble Island ; one of the natives was looking at the captain's log- 
book, and said that the great white man who visited them years before had 
kept a similar book. Having said this he produced a spoon on which the 
word 'Franklin' was engraved, and thus made it evident that the book 
he had seen was that of the missing explorer. 

" These bits of information attracted the attention of Lieutenant 
Schwatka of the United States Army, and led him to organize an expedi- 
tion for the purpose of finding the missing records. He sailed from New 
York in the summer of 1878. The history of his journey has been pub- 
lished under the title of " Schwatka's Search," and was written by Mr. 
W. H. Gilder, who went with him as second in command. 

" Quite likely we shall have occasion to speak again of Lieutenant 
Schwatka and his expedition. To put it briefly, the lieutenant and Mr. 
Gilder made the most remarkable sledge journey on record, having been 
absent from their base of supplies an entire year, lacking only a few days. 
In this time they travelled a distance of 3251 statute miles, or 2819 
geographical miles, nearly all of it over an unexplored region, and in one 
of the coldest seasons known in the arctic regions for many years. Once 
the thermometer showed the temperature to be 71° below zero, Fahrenheit; 
there were sixteen days averaging 100° below the freezing point, and 
twenty-seven days when it was more than 90° below it. During all this 
time the expedition was travelling, and its historian says it never stopped 
at all on account of the cold." 

"But you haven't told us what Schwatka learned about the records 
of the Franklin expedition," said the commander with a smile. 

"I was just getting to that," answered the Doctor. "He found that 
the books had been destroyed by the natives ; not maliciously, but because 
they were quite ignorant of the value of the property. They gave some 
of the volumes to their children for playthings, and no doubt the 
Eskimo urchins had a great deal of fun with them. The rest of the 
books were left on the rocks until they were destroyed by the wind and 
storms: they had originally been deposited in a tin case, which the natives 
broke open in the expectation of finding something valuable. Of course 



SCHWATKA'S SEARCH. 



31 



the books were of no use to them, and it seems a great pity that the' offi- 
cers had not informed them that the records would bring a great price 
if carried to where white men could see them. 

" Schwatka brought back quite a collection of relics of the Franklin 
expedition, and buried the bones of many of the men, which had been 
lying exposed for years. The grave of one officer, Lieutenant Irving, was 
found, and his remains were removed and sent to England. All the other 
graves of officers had been opened by the natives and the contents scat- 
tered about: that of Lieutenant Irving was opened like the rest, and a 
portion of the bones had disappeared ; those that remained were gathered 
as carefully as possible, and were identified by a silver medal awarded to 
John Irving at the Royal Naval College, England, in 1S30. The medal 
was lying on a stone near by, where it was probably placed by the natives 
when they robbed the grave, and was forgotten by accident." 




TRAVELLING BY SLEDGE. 



The conversation which we have recorded was frequently interrupted 
by the movements of the steward, who was busy with the work of serving 
breakfast, and as the cabin was narrow he was obliged to display a good 
deal of skill to avoid accidents. Once he upset the coffee-pot at the edge 
of the table, but managed to catch it before the entire contents were 
spilt. A few minutes later he allowed a fried egg to slip inside the col- 
lar of George's coat, just as that young gentleman was leaning forward 
to help himself to a sea-biscuit; consequently, George left the table for 
a short period, and missed a part of the Doctor's lecture. He consoled 
himself with the double reflection that the Doctor's fund of informa- 



32 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




ICE-DRIFT OF THE TYSON PARTY. 



tion was by no means exhausted, but the store of fresh eggs would soon 
give out. 

After breakfast there was an inspection of the list of provisions that 
had been brought along for the use of the party in the North. Previous 
to the. inspection the commander explained to the youths the plan of the 
voyage, and his reasons for preferring San Francisco to New York as a 
point of departure. 

" To make it clear to you," said he, " I must first tell about the polar 
currents. 

" Most of the navigators who have entered the Arctic Ocean by way of 
Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay have found themselves opposed by the 
currents flowing down to the south. Frequently, when their ships are 
enclosed in the ice, they have been carried slowly but steadily along over 



RECOVERY OF THE "RESOLUTE." 



33 



the very track by which they ascended to the North, and without any 
power to resist the movement. 

" There are many instances of this on record. Captain Tyson, on his 
escape from the Polaris in October, 1872, drifted south nearly two thou- 
sand miles on a large floe of ice, from which he was rescued by the 
steamer Tigress. In 1827 Captain Parry made a sledge journey over 
the ice, but found that he drifted to the south nearly as fast as his sledges 
carried him northward. Captain M'Clintock, in the steam-yacht Fox, had 
a similar experience: the Fox was locked in the ice in Baffin's Bay, 
August 17, 1857, and was carried back on her course until April 25th 
of the following year; when released she had drifted one thousand three 
hundred and ninety-five miles southward. 




THE CABIN OF THE " RESOLUTE. 



"In 1851 Sir Edward Belcher, with a fleet of five ships, was caught in 
the ice near Beechy Island ; the ships were abandoned, and given up as 
totally lost. Sixteen months later one of the officers of the whaling ship 
George Henry saw a vessel in the ice near the west shore of Baffin's Bay, 
in latitude 67°. Making his way to her with some difficulty, he found she 
was the Resolute, one of Sir Edward Belcher's abandoned ships, perfectly 

3 



34 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

sound and sea-worthy, though locked fast in the ice. The cabin was 
mouldy and musty in appearance, but everything was in order, showing 
that she had not been visited by the natives. Some decanters of wine 
were on the table, and the discoverers helped themselves to the beverage 
which they had fairly earned by their long tramp over the ice. 

" The prize was a valuable one, and the captain of the George Henry 
decided to go home with her as soon as he could get her free from the 
ice. He divided his crew between the two vessels, going on board the 
Resolute in person and leaving the George Henry in charge of his first 
mate. It was rather a curious circumstance that in a day or two after 
he had done so the Resolute was free and the George Henry frozen in. 
She got free, however, shortly after, and the two vessels made the best 
of their way to New London. The Resolute was bought by the United 
States Government, and, after being thoroughly refitted, was sent to Eng- 
land as a present to the Queen. The British Government accepted the 
gift, but immediately dismantled the ship, and laid her up in the Wool- 
wich dock-yard. 

"From the time she was abandoned until picked up by the George 
Henry, the Resolute had drifted a thousand miles, entirely by the force of 
the current. Other instances of the steady drift of the currents could be 
given, but those I have cited are sufficient." 

One of the boys asked how the currents were made, and whether they 
were the same throughout the whole year. 

"The currents are generally stronger in winter than in the warm 
months, but such is not always the case. They are formed by the Gulf 
Stream, in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Kuro Siwa, or Japan current, in 
the Pacific. The Gulf Stream, as yon know, flows from the Gulf of Mex- 
ico northward and eastward till it reaches the coast of Northern Em-ope, 
passes the North Cape, and strikes the western shore of Nova Zembla. 
Portions of it flow northward towards the pole, and naturally create a 
counter current which sweeps down the coast of Greenland to the south. 
It is this current which brings the icebergs that are one of the dangers 
of navigation in the North Atlantic." 

"I know them very well," said George. "When I came home from 
Europe in the steamer Arizona last year, we passed ten or twelve ice- 
bergs in a single day. Captain Brooks, who commanded the Arizona, 
said they had come from Greenland, and were brought down by the cur- 
rent ; and he said they sometimes went as low as forty degrees north lati- 
tude before they were melted by the warmth of the atmosphere." 

"The other stream," continued Commander Bronson, "is the Kuro 



THE GATEWAY TO THE POLE. 



35 



Slwa, and flows from the coast of Japan northward thuough Behring 
Strait. It greatly resembles the Gnlf Stream, only it is much smaller, 
the narrowness of the strait preventing the passage of a great body of 
'water; still it is sufficiently extensive to sweep away the ice from that 
part of the Arctic Ocean in ordinary summers, and give an entrance for 
whalers and other ships. Many scientists have thought that this current 
would furnish the best mode of reaching the pole, and some of them 
believe that it flows directly over it. While many explorers have sought 
to reach the pole by the Greenland route, and been carried back by the 
currents, others have argued that the true way to get there is to take 
advantage of the current through Behring Strait. Nine -tenths of the 
sailing or steaming expeditions to the arctic regions have been by the 
Greenland or the Spitsbergen route; 

only a few have tried the other ap- A^ 

proach, and consequently its capa- j 

bilities have not been tested. \ 

"It is my opinion that the gate- |V : 

way to the pole is through Behring jj 

Strait; for that reason I wished to ^^|ft 

sail from San Francisco rather than - s»L 

from New York. Perhaps we may 

be caught in the ice and drifted _."- . -:, :fg- ^ v- 

across the pole by the Japan cur- JH^ - ? \- c^" 

rent; then we may be brought down -|fl|9I '" ~ ~ \ ■ -.. 

with the ice along the coast of Green- ,;„J1j 

land or by Spitsbergen, and so make 
our way to New York by the Atlan- 
tic route. Who can say that we 
shall not? 

" Only a few years ago a whale- 
ship that had entered the Arctic 
Ocean through Behring Strait, 
found open water farther than it 
had ever been seen before. She 
sailed more than a hundred miles 

along this water in pursuit of whales, but found none. As she was not 
on a scientific vo} r age, she turned to the south and lost a valuable oppor- 
tunity. It is not impossible that there was an open way to the pole, 
caused by a combination of the winds and currents ; and if to the pole, 
why may it not have continued southward on the other side? Of course 




AN ICEBERG FROM GREENLAND. 



36 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




THE BARRIER OF ICE. 



it is all conjecture, but where everything is guesswork, the guess of one 
is as good as that of another." 

" Do you think there is water at the pole," said one of the youths, " or 
perhaps solid land ?" 

"That is one of the vexed questions," replied the commander, with a 
smile, "and it cannot be answered until somebody has actually been to 
the pole and seen for himself. I have already told you of the discussions 
relative to the sea at the pole (supposing there is a sea there), whether it 
is polynia or paleocrystic, open or eternally closed. All that the expe- 
ditions have accomplished towards reaching the pole is to get within about 
five hundred miles of it; ten hours of an express train on a railway might 
finish the journey, but, unhappily, the railway has not been extended to it, 
and Pullman cars are unavailable. Certainly the pole is surrounded by 
an icy barrier, which does not remain the same at all times. One expe- 
dition finds open water where another, a few years earlier or later, discov- 
ers only solid ice; and this experience has been repeated again and again. 
The barrier of ice has been indented in a few places, but, practically, there 
is an area of two and a half million square miles around the pole where 
the foot of man has never trod." 

"It seems to me," said one of the youths," that the cold must increase 
as we go towards the pole, and where there is so much ice at every point 
four or five hundred miles from it, there must be a great deal more ice at 
the pole itself." 

" Evidently you adhere to the paleocrystic theory," was the reply, " but 






IS THERE AN ARCTIC CONTINENT? 



37 



on one question yon are wrong. The point of greatest cold is not at the 
pole itself, but away to the south ; observation shows that there are two 
points of greatest cold, one in Northern Siberia and the other on Parry 
Island, on the American side of the globe. North of these points the tem- 
perature decreases as we approach the pole, but our progress is impeded 
by the ice barrier already mentioned, and which lias been such a hin- 
derance to every explorer in that direction. 

" The North-pole is not the magnetic pole any more than it is the pole 
of greatest cold. Sir James Ross, in 1832, fixed the magnetic pole in 
latitude 70° V 17" N., longitude 96° W 45" W. It is there the needle 
of the mariner's compass points, and not to the spot over which the North- 
star is supposed to hang perpetually." 

"What are the arguments in favor of an arctic continent?" was the 
next inquiry. 

" Here is the opinion of Lieutenant Lucien Young," was the reply ; 
and so saying, Commander Bronson drew from his pocket a slip cut from 
a newspaper. " He has given much time to the study of arctic explora- 
tion, and his theory is the result of careful deliberation. 



^k? ^$. 




<* -~* --.--** 



ARCTIC BIRDS. 



" ' The wild-fowl of the higher arctic regions,' says Lieutenant Young, 
' when winter comes on, do not go south, but north. There, somewhere 
in the unknown, mysterious regions, they build their nests and hatch their 



38 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

young, returning south in the spring. These birds do not build their 
nests on ice and snow, and are fond of vegetable substances. Again, the 
Gulf Stream, as is well known, after leaving the coast of America, divides 
into three currents. One of them breaks on the British Isles, and gives 
them the temperature of New York ; another goes along the northern 
coast of Europe and Siberia; and a third sweeps northward along the east- 
ern coast of Greenland until it meets a cold current of greater specific 
gravity coming from the north, when it sinks and becomes an undercur- 
rent, still running northward. Now it is only when the waters of the Gulf 
Stream meet with a resistance that they give out their latent heat. For 
instance, they pass by the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, and do not ma- 
terially raise the temperature there, but when the resistance of the British 
Isles is encountered, the heat is given off.' 

"'Now,' continues Lieutenant Young, 'may not the portion of the 
Gulf Stream running north meet with the obstruction of land around the 
pole, and, coming to the surface and giving off its heat, raise the tempera- 
ture of the region very materially? In support of this- -theory we find 
Gulf Stream water in Smith's Strait running south. I believe there is 
land at the pole, and immortality for the man who shall place his foot 
upon it.' " 

Commander Bronson folded the paper and carefully replaced it in his 
pocket. 

"I can understand the benefits of the currents flowing from the pole," 
said one of the youths. " They bring away the ice and thus prevent a vast 
accumulation. If it were not for the currents there would be a great 
increase every year." 

" Quite true," replied the commander, " but, in spite of the currents, 
it is generally believed that the quantity of ice at the pole is increasing 
every year. Here comes the Doctor; let us ask him to explain his theory 
of the grand cataclysm." 

The query was made, and the Doctor readily assented to the proposal. 

" My theory," said he, " is not by any means my own ; it was pro- 
pounded years ago by M. Adhemar, a celebrated French mathematician, 
and is supported partly or altogether by Lyell, Darwin, Hebert, Flon, and 
others. 

"Briefly stated, it is that the centre of gravity of the earth is changed 
at certain epochs by the accumulation of ice at one of the poles, until its 
balance is lost. When this happens, the earth turns over : that is, it changes 
its position in the heavens, so that what is now the North-star hangs over 
the present South-pole. There is a grand cataclysm, or rush of waters, 



THE GRAND CATACLYSM. 39 

making the inundations of which we see the traces all over the globe, 
and forming the deposits that compose the different strata of the earth's 
surface." 

"How often do these upsets occur?" Fred inquired. 

" About once in every twenty-one thousand years," replied the Doctor. 
" The last is supposed to have been the Deluge, which is described in the 
Genesis of the Bible. You needn't be alarmed for our present safety, he 
added, "as the next cataclysm is not expected for at least ten thousand 
years !" 

"But I don't understand how it all comes about," said George. 
"What is it sets the cataclysm going?" 

"According to the geologists," the Doctor explained, "there is a differ- 
ence in the amount of heat and cold in the two hemispheres. In the first 
part of one of these great cycles of twenty-one thousand years there will 
be more heat in one hemisphere than in the other, while at the last half 
of the cycle the conditions are reversed. Humboldt estimated that at 
the present time there are eight days more of winter in the South-pole 
than at the North, and consequently eight days less of summer. It fol- 
lows, therefore, that there is an accumulation of ice and snow at the 
South-pole which increases slightly, but surely, every year. Thousands 
of years hence the weight of ice, snow, and water there will be so great 
that the centre of gravity will be changed, and then will come one of 
those terrible inundations already mentioned. According to this theory 
we are now a little past the middle of the cycle. Ten thousand years 
ago the North-pole was a warm region, and the mammoth and kindred 
animals roamed through its forests. Since that time the temperature has 
fallen in the Southern Hemisphere ; all the explorers in the direction of 
the South-pole say there is a greater quantity of ice there than in the 
North, and the hinderances to travel are everywhere insurmountable." 

" Then, if we wait a few thousand years," said one of the youths, " we 
can have a better chance than now of getting to the North-pole, since 
the cataclysm will sweep everything away, and there will be no ice to 
hinder us." 

" Quite likely," responded the Doctor ; " but we won't make this a 
reason for giving up our present expedition." 



40 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER III. 

PROVISIONS FOR AN ARCTIC VOYAGE.— WHALES AND WHALERS. 

WE have observed that the inspection of the list of provisions was 
interrupted by the talk concerning the exploration of the arctic 
regions and the searches for Sir John Franklin ; then came the disserta- 
tion of the Doctor on the grand cataclysm which should change the rela- 
tion of the poles and derange things generally, coupled with the re-assuring 
assertion that it was not likely to come off immediately. Quiet having 
been restored, as the reporters say, the list of provisions was produced. 

" We are provisioned for two years," said the commander, " and of 
course we have the usual stores of a ship for a long voyage. They in- 
clude salted meats, both dry and wet — the former carefully wrapped in 
canvas, and the latter in strong casks. Then we have a liberal stock of 
flour, meal, dried fruit, preserved vegetables of different kinds, canned 
meats and fruits, and tea, coffee, and chocolate. Hard bread or sea-biscuit 
has not been' forgotten, as it is generally the first item in a ship's list of 
provisions. 

The Doctor remarked that the hardships of long sea-voyages had been 
diminished by the abundance of canned goods, which were almost un- 
known in the time of Sir John Franklin, and even at a much later date. 

"As to that," said Commander Bronson, " we are less fortunate than 
you might suppose, as there are many qualities of canned provisions which 
will not bear transportation to the arctic regions. All articles that con- 
tain water are undesirable, as they are injured by freezing, and, besides, it 
is not well to carry water where every ounce of weight is of serious con- 
sequence. Our canned provisions have been specially prepared for us, 
and contain the least possible amount of moisture. 

"We have horseradish and lime-juice, in large quantities, to prevent 
the disease called scurvy ; it has frequently impaired the efficiency of 
arctic expeditions, and in some instances has been the direct cause of 
failure. I have had our lime-juice prepared in a new form, partly to 
facilitate transportation, and partly to make it easier of distribution when 



PROVISIONS FOR ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. 41 

wanted. Instead of being in liquid shape it is in the form of lozenges, 
and in sticks like candy. When we are on the inarch over the ice we can 
more easily distribute it than if it were frozen solid in bottles. 

" Our pemmican was made by a man who thoroughly understands its 
preparation, and we have a liberal supply of it." 

One of the youths asked what pemmican was, and the commander 
proceeded to enlighten him. 

" Pemmican," said he, " is an important article of supply at the posts 
of the Hudson's Bay Company and all through the northern regions. 
There are two forms, raw and cooked ; for the former, lean meat is cut 
into thin strips and dried, and for the latter the meat is boiled before 
cutting and drying. In either case the meat is reduced to powder, and 
this is mixed with melted fat. A little seasoning is added, and in some 
parts of the North the powder of certain leaves is introduced. When 
thoroughly mixed, the substance is poured into a bag of green hide, the 
end of the bag tightly sewed, and as the hide shrinks in drying it com- 
presses the contents into a mass nearly as hard as a brick. The pemmican 
is preserved from injury by its hide envelope, and is so solid that it must 
be cut out with a hatchet or a stout knife. 

"As an article of food it is admirably adapted to expeditions over the 
ice, or in regions of intense cold ; the great quantity of fat contained in it 
supplies the carbon required by the system for resisting the effects of a 
low temperature, and it is so well protected b} 7 its covering that it may lie 
for hours in the rain, or be immersed in salt-water, without injury. 

"I have tried an experiment," the commander continued, "or, rather, 
I have repeated an experiment that was made by a recent English expe- 
dition, and found to work successfully." 

" What is that ?" 

"I have mixed lime-juice with the pemmican in such a proportion 
that it will not be necessary to keep the anti-scorbutic medicine always at 
hand. At least, I think the result will be that our men will keep in good 
health without the necessity of frequent rations of lime-juice. 

" So much for the food provisions," he added, " and with care they will 
be all we need, in addition, of course, to the game we hope to kill from 
time to time. 

"For killing our game we are well provided with arms and ammu- 
nition. We have several rifles of the latest pattern, and we have revolvers 
sufficient to set up a small shop, in case we want to make a trading vent- 
ure. We have a few rifles that can be loaded with loose powder and 
ball, but the most of our weapons use fixed ammunition ; the shells can be 



42 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



v _ •■,.-.. s \ . •■. 








OVER THE ICE. 



reloaded if we happen to run short, or are in danger of doing so, and there 
is an abundance of material for reloading. 

" There are only two sizes of fixed ammunition — one for the rifles and 
one for the revolvers. Perhaps I might express it better by saying that 
our weapons have only two calibres — the rifles one and the revolvers an- 
other. 

"We have an abundance of warm clothing, both for under and outer 
wear; it will serve us in ordinary times very satisfactorily, but on long 
journeys over the ice, or in the dead of winter, we shall adopt the native 
dress, of which we will learn more by-and-by. You remember the old 
adage, 'when with the Romans, do as the Romans do;' apply it to our case, 
and when with the Hyperboreans, dress as the Hyperboreans dress. They 
wear thick furs and skins, and so must we if we would escape freezing in 
the arctic winter. 

" For fuel we have coal — as much as we can stow away in the ship's 
bunkers; and we may be able to replenish our stock at one of the inter- 
national depots recently established in the arctic regions." 

"I had not heard of them," said the Doctor; "when were they estab- 
lished?" 



INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY-STATIONS. 



43 



" I made a suggestion three or four years ago," was the reply. " It was 
favorably received by our government, and the Secretary of the Navy 
proceeded to act upon it. My suggestion was that every whaler, or other 
ship, proceeding to the Arctic Ocean under sail alone, and having spare 
room in her hold, should carry a quantity of coal, to be left at certain des- 
ignated points, for the use of any explorer who might need it. An ex- 
ploring ship of any nation might use this coal under certain restrictions, 
reporting through her own admiralty the number of tons taken, so that 
compensation could lie made to the government that sent it out. It is 




NATIVE AND EUROPEAN DRESS CONTRASTED. 



not necessary to trouble you with all the details of my scheme ; it was 
accepted, and communicated to the governments of England, France, Ger- 
many, Denmark, Sweden, and other nations interested in polar explora- 
tions, and there ought to be by this time several coal depots in the Arctic 
Ocean, where an explorer should be reasonably sure of finding enough to 
supply his wants." 



44 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

"But won't the natives steal the coal, as they do everything else?" one 
of the youths inquired. 

" Undoubtedly, if it could be of any use to them," was the reply, " but 
thus far they have not found out how to utilize it. They look with won- 
der on the white man's ability to burn 'black stones,' but have not learned 
how to perforin the feat themselves. As long as they have no stoves, and 
are not taught how to create a draft through the coal, they will respect the 
heaps which we shall make on the barren rocks at East Cape, Littleton 
Island, Point Barrow, and the other places selected for our depots. Then, 
too, these depots will be convenient post-offices for the interchange of news 
and information. I suggested that at each depot a mark should be made 
on some prominent rock, indicating the spot where letters were concealed 
a short distance away. The distances should be in yards, and the direction 
magnetic by compass ; or it might be shown by an arrow, cut or painted on 
the rock. Thus " N.E. 22 " would mean that a box had been buried twen- 
ty-two yards away, in a north-easterly direction; " » — * 27" would show 
that the direction of the arrow must be followed twenty-seven yards to 
find the place of concealment. The position of the deposits would be ac- 
cording to the character of the ground, the drift of the snows, and the 
liability to discovery by the natives. 

" It is of very little use," he continued, "to deposit papers under cairns 
of stones, as the natives invariably dig into the cairns and break open 
the cases containing the papers. This was the fate of the records of the 
Franklin expedition, as we have already seen. Now, if the records had 
been buried in a dry spot, and all trace of the digging of the ground ob- 
literated, future explorers might have been directed to the place by marks 
on the rocks some distance away." 

"But some of the natives — two or three that have been to the United 
States and England — have learned to read," said Fred, " and one of these 
natives could discover the place of deposit." 

" Quite likely," said the Doctor, " but he would be intelligent enough 
to know that the records would bring a handsome reward to whoever 
found them, and there could be no danger from such a cause. Suppose 
there had been a native of King William Land able to read when the 
Franklin records were lying about in the hands of the children, or ex- 
posed to the winds on the rocks. Every scrap of paper would have been 
carefully collected and carried to one of the stations on Hudson's Bay ; 
instead of waiting more than ten years for definite information, we should 
have known the fate of the expedition in a couple of years at farthest, and 
the history of its work would have been preserved." 



COAL AND WHALES. 45 

"Bat to return to the subject of coal," said the Doctor; "there is 
plenty of coal in the far North, I believe, but it has never been utilized, 
partly owing to the difficulties of mining it, and partly because it is of 
very poor quality." 

" Unless I am misinformed," responded Commander Bronson, " the 
most of the coal found in the islands and along the coast of the far North 
— with the exception of a large seam of anthracite at Lady Franklin Bay 
— contains so much sulphur that it is dangerous to burn it in the furnaces 
of steamships, on account of its eating away the iron of the flues." 

"Yes," answered the Doctor; "one summer when I was in Alaska we 
made a trip to the Aleutian Islands. On one of the islands there is a fine 
bed of coal, so close to the water that it is an easy matter to get it out, 
We stopped there a couple of days, and filled our bunkers, and then 
steamed off in high spirits. But we soon found that the sulphur in the 
coal was destroying our flues, and the unconsnmed stuff was pitched over- 
board. We made the discovery just in time: our engineer said that if 
we had gone on with it another day there would have been danger of 
setting fire to the ship. When we returned to Sitka it was necessary to 
replace nearly all the fines with new ones, but we were consoled by learn- 
ing that others had made the same mistake." 

" There she blows !" said Captain Jones, pointing rather excitedly at 
the spout of a whale a few hundred yards to windward. 

The conversation relative to the Arctic Ocean came to a sudden stop, 
and the entire party rushed to the rail to see the " monster of the deep." 

"Eighty barrels of oil in him," said the captain. "Wouldn't he give 
us a fine stock for winter evenings at the North-pole ?" 

" Then we wouldn't have so much occasion for the coal depots we 
have just heard about," exclaimed George. 

"Let's capture him," said Fred, " and cut up his blubber for the en- 
gine-room. Wouldn't the propeller send us along, with such stuff as that 
for fuel !" 

Evidently the whale was not at all frightened, and perhaps he mistook 
the ship for one of his own family. He slowly came up, until he was not 
fifty yards away, and then made a complete circuit of the Vivian. Fred 
wanted to shoot at him, "just for fun," and started below for a rifle ; Cap- 
tain Jones called him back, and said the shooting could not be allowed, 
and with that the youth resumed his place at the rail. 

"It would have done no good to shoot at him," said the captain, "and 
might have done harm. Perhaps he would have dived after getting your 
shot, and come up a long distance away, and perhaps he might have come 



46 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



up directly beneath the ship, and given ns a shock that would have 
strained us severely, or possibly sent us to the bottom. Such things have 
happened, and there are several instances of whales having attacked ships, 
breaking in their sides and converting them into helpless wrecks. The 
whale-ship Essex w T as destroyed by a whale in this way, and so was the 
Union / other ships have been attacked, and there is no good in taking 
a shot 'just for fun,' as you say." 




AN INCIDENT OF THE WHALE-FISHERY. 



Fred assented readily to the captain's suggestion, and concluded that 
a shot at anything for mere sport, whether on land o> sea, was not to be 
recommended. lie inwardly resolved that the lesson should not be lost 
on him, and to strengthen his resolution he imparted it to George, who 
promptly agreed with him. 

Soon another whale, and in a little while another, were reported in 
sight, somewhat to the discomfort of Captain Jones, who regretted passing 
such magnificent game without trying to capture it. 

"Why didn't we rig the ship for a whaling cruise as well as for an 
arctic exploration?" said one of the youths; "then we could have had 
the sport of killing whales, and made a nice profit from the oil." 

" Very good in theory," remarked the Doctor, " but the practice would 
not have been so good. Whaling would delay our explorations, and per- 



WHALE-FISHING IN THE ICE. 47 

liaps rnin them altogetlier; you can't put science and commerce quite so 
close together without making one or both of them suffer. A better way 
would be to make one cruise entirely as a whaler, and another in the 
-interests of science; then you wouldn't run the risk of getting things 
mixed." 

"A voyage after whales would be an excellent preparation for a 
scientific one," remarked the captain, as he overheard the conversation 
between the Doctor and the youths. "Ton make an intimate acquaint- 
ance with the ice-fields, bergs, floes, and packs, and what a man doesn't 
know about ice after a few whaling voyages is hardly worth finding out. 

" The best whale-fishing is now close in upon the ice, and very often 
you go for your game where the bergs and packs are thick. The first 
whale I ever struck in the Arctic Ocean was along-side of a great berg, 
like a mountain, and when we hit him he tried to get under the ice to 
escape us. 

"We sighted him from the berg, where some of the sailors had been 
sent to try to find fresh water, the ship meantime standing on and off 
under full sail. Of course when they saw the whale they dropped all 
idea of water and went for the prize ; he cost us more than three hours 
hard fighting, and at one time it looked as though he would get off in 
spite of us. He doubled around the 
point of the berg with the harpoon 
in him, and if he had cut the line Hill 

against the ice we should have lost r ^ 

him. In one way the ice helped us, 1§Jt IF Hlft 

as he finally went into a little nook 
or (cove), in the berg, where he got 
bewildered, and gave us a chance : 
to finish him up. =ajj 

" I once saw a whale caught in ^/^SplffL 
an iceberg," the captain continued ; "" 

" or, rather, he was pretty well up ' ^-^Sl^ilS 
towards the top of it." 

" How did that happen ?" said 
one of the listeners. 

" I'll tell you," responded the mariner. " I was in the Robert Gibbs, 
of New Bedford, off the southern end of Greenland, and we hadn't seen a 
whale for several days. But we kept a sharp lookout all the time, partly 
for whales and partly to steer clear of the ice. One day we were sailing 
along within a mile or so of a bio; berg that was drifting south with the 






k» 



rH} p i.;p 




LOOKOUT ON AN ICEBERG. 



4S THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

current, and seemed to have everything its own way. I was up in the 
crow's-nest, and had my eyes on the berg, when suddenly about a third of it 
broke off from one side with a report like thunder, and went crashing and 
splashing into the water. 

" The part that broke off changed the balance of the rest, so that the 
berg turned about half-way over. One side went under water, while the 
other came out, and the side that came out brought a whale along with it, 
and lifted him nearly a hundred feet into the air. He was in a hollow in 
the berg, not large enough for him to swim in, but high enough in the 
sides to keep him from getting over. 

" He splashed about and made things lively, and the more he thrashed 
the less water there was for him to live in. I shouted, 'there she blows!' 
and pointed to the iceberg, and away went a boat to capture him. 

" The boat made fast to the berg, and the boat-steerer went on the ice 
with a lance, though he had a hard time getting up the slippery side. But 
he got to the whale after a while and finished him with the lance, and 
then we wondered what to do with him. 

"It wasn't exactly safe to go to chopping the ice enough to make a 
channel for the whale to slip through to the water, as our blows would be 
likely to split the berg again, and let us into the ocean among the falling 
ice. Then it would be a long job to cut off the blubber where he was, 
and carry it away in the boats, after sliding the pieces into the water, and 
nobody could tell what minute the berg might turn over again. 

" It wasn't a large whale — abont fifty barrels or so— but it was too good 
to be lost. The captain looked the business all over, and then hit on a 
plan which we at once carried out. 

" We rove ropes around a dozen empty casks, and fastened the ends of 
'em together, so that the lot looked like a bunch of toy balloons which the 
peddlers sell on Broadway. Then we towed the casks along-side the berg, 
close to where the whale was, and carried up the rope that held the bunch. 

"We made it fast to his flukes to prevent its working loose, and then 
we went back to the ship. 

" The boats were all hauled in, and then we made sail and brought the 
ship within about five hundred yards of the perpendicular side of the 
berg. We fired several times at the berg with a small cannon, in the hope 
that the concussion might shatter it and make it turn over again ; but 
though we brought off some large pieces it didn't turn as we wanted. 

"Then we went back with one of the boats, taking along some powder 
in a tin canister, a long piece of safety-fuse, and the tools we needed for 
making a deep hole in the ice. We drilled a big hole just back of the 



SCOEESBY'S VOYAGES. 49 

whale ; then we put down the canister of powder, with the fuse attached, 
and filled the hole up with the fine ice we had chiselled out of it. When 
all was ready, everybody but one man went back to the boat, and then he 
'lit the fuse and followed too. You can be sure he made the best of time 
down the slope, and the boat's crew never did better pulling than when 
they were getting away from that berg. 

« "\\r e g t to the ship's side before the powder blew up. It split off a 
great piece of the berg and let the whale down into the water, where he 
was kept from sinking by the casks tied to his tail. When the commotion 
was over we went and picked him up, and in a little while had his carcass 
along-side, and were cutting him in. I reckon that was about the only 
whale ever killed on the top of an iceberg. 

"Talking about mixing up the whaling business with arctic explora- 
tion," continued Captain Jones, "you'll find we are indebted to the whalers 
for a great deal that has been learned about the polar regions. For in- 
stance, there was Captain Scoresby, who flourished in the early part of this 
century; he combined the capture of whales with the pursuit of science, 
and when he was not busy with the chase of a w T hale, he was making ob- 
servations on the ice-packs and currents. 

" Scoresby made more than thirty voyages to the arctic regions ; he 
believed in the open polar sea, and in 1806, when whales were scarce, he 
endeavored to prove the correctness of his theory. He sailed into the ice- 
barrier, and reached latitude 81° 30' N". before he was compelled to return. 
Hendrik Hudson had previously reached the same latitude in the Spitz- 
bergen seas, but the record of Scoresby was the best made by a whaler 
down to that time. Altogether he was full of adventure, as he passed the 
80th parallel in fifteen of his voyages, surpassing everybody else before or 
since his time. 

" He was full of courage in his fights with the whales, and had many 
narrow escapes. Once his ship was in a bay that had been freshly frozen 
over; the ice was so thin that it would not bear the weight of a man, and 
too thick to be broken by rowing a boat through it. Whales were in the 
bay, and there were holes where they came up to breathe, aud Scoresby 
wanted to get at them. 

" He went to work and made what he called ' ice-shoes ;' they were of 
thin plank, six feet long by a foot wide, and in the centre of each plank 
he made a place where his foot could be held by straps. With these" shoes 
he slid along the ice to the holes where the whales came up to breathe, 
and there he harpooned them at his convenience. 

"But after he had struck the harpoon into a whale the rough part of 

4 



50 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



the business came. The creature dived, and by-and-by came up to breathe, 
and when lie rose lie wasn't particular whether he came to a hole or made 
a new one with his back. Scoresby followed on his ice-shoes to where he 
thought the whale would come up, and if he made a good guess, he gen- 
erally succeeded in finishing him off. 




CAPTAIN SCORESBY. 



" Once he calculated a little too closely, for the whale came up right 
under where he stood, and sent the old captain into the air, ice-shoes and 
all. But there happened to be some strong ice close by, so he skipped out 
of his ice-shoes and made for the solid ice, where he could stand in safety." 

" There were two Scoresbys," said the Doctor, " and I presume it is of 
the elder you are speaking." 

" Yes," answered Captain Jones ; " I forgot to say there were two of 



ORIGIN OF BRITISH EXPEDITIONS. 



51 



them, father and son. Both were named William : the father did not be- 
gin his seafaring life till 1790, when he was thirty years old, and he died 
in 1829. The son ran away to sea in one of the father's ships when lie 
1 was only ten years old, and six years later he had risen to the rank of first 
mate. The elder Scoresby made many improvements in whaling, and it 
was he that invented and used the ice-shoes I told about. He commanded 
the ship Resolution, when she made the northward voyage in 1806 to lat- 
itude 81° 30', and at that time his son was second officer under him. The 
son was the first to make scientific observations on the electricity of the 
polar regions, and he made so many contributions to the geography of the 
far North that his work has been long regarded as a high authority." 

" He had a good deal of correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks," the 
Doctor remarked, " and it was this correspondence, and the various reports 
of Captain Scoresby, that led to the equipment of several important expe- 
ditions by the British Government." 

" We doff our caps to the Scoresbys," said Commander Bronson, " and 
they are worthy of all the honor their successors can give them." 

The attention of the party was called to an object on the water almost 
ahead of the ship, and, as they neared it, the eyes of the youths were 
strained to their utmost to make out 
the strange sight. Flocks of birds 
were circling about, or settling on the 
waves, and there was a commotion 
in the water that resembled a small 
whirlpool. 

" There she doesn't blow !" said 
the captain, as soon as he turned his 



gaze in that direction. 



Then he explained that what they 
saw was nothing but the stripped car- 
cass of a whale. " Some whaler has 
had hold of him," said the captain, 
"and his blubber is now being con- 
verted into oil, somewhere beyond 
the horizon. 

" The birds are having a rare feast 
on what the huntsmen of the sea have left, and that is why you see so 
many of them. The sharks are in for their share as well, and they are 
kicking up a lively commotion in the water. They are dangerous cus- 
tomers for the birds ; anything is game for them that they can get hold 




A NIMROD OF THE SEA. 



52 THE VOYAGE OF THE " VIVIAN." 

of, and if you were near enough you would see a bird go under every 
few minutes, and become food for a shark. 

"The sharks make it risky sometimes for the men who are cutting in 
a whale. A man has to go down on the whale's back to start the strip 
of blubber, and if he misses his footing while there, and slips into the 
water, he runs a great chance of being swallowed by a shark. The back 
of a whale isn't the best footing in the world ; you must have spikes in 
your boots, or woollen stockings over them, and even then, when a ship 
is. rolling and the whale is bobbing about, there is great danger of slipping. 
After the strip is started the man climbs into ' the chains,' where he has 
a better footing, and can chop away with the spade as fast as the blubber 
is unrolled." 

As the Vivian passed the drifting carcass some of the birds flew away, 
but their places were promptly filled by others, and there was no decrease 
in the number. The captain said that sometimes the carcass of a whale 
floated after being stripped and cast adrift, while at others it sank instant- 
ly. Why it should float at one time and sink at another was a mystery 
nobody had been able to explain. And he further said that, sometimes 
when a whale is on the surface of the water, he will sink as rapidly as a 
stone, without any apparent motion of fins or tail. 

The conversation continued for some time, and touched a variety of 
topics, until dinner was announced. The next day and the next there 
were more stories about the whale-fishery, and for a week or more Captain 
Jones contributed freely to the amusement of the youths. 

One day lie was describing an adventure with a sperm-whale in the 
South Pacific; just as he was in the middle of his story, it was suddenly 
interrupted by the announcement of a sail ahead, which threw everybody 
into a state of excitement. 



A FEAST FOE SHARKS AND SEA-BIRDS. 



53 



;f :'llpipli! 




54 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER IV. 

MEETING A STRANGER.— SOMETHING ABOUT KAMCHATKA. 

GEORGE and Fred looked for the sail that had been sighted, but it 
was some time before they could make it out. Even when they did 
see it there was little more than a speck on the horizon, but it was clearly 
distinguishable to the experienced eyes of the commander and the cap- 
tain. The latter declared it was a bark, even before he brought his glass 
to bear upon it ; after a long look at the stranger, he said it was probably 
the Beliring, on her way from Petropavlovsk to San Francisco. The 
youths had a suspicion that the latter announcement was entirely guess- 
work, and based upon the captain's knowledge that the JBehring was on 
her way southward, and was due about that time. Whether they were 
right or wrong in their supposition, they had no way, for the present at 
least, of finding out. 

On the course they were sailing they were not likely to come very 
near the stranger, as she was a long distance to leeward. Captain Jones 
ordered the Vivian to change her bearing, and thus the two vessels grad- 
ually approached each other. An hour or so before sunset they were 
within signalling distance, and the guess of Captain Jones turned out to 
be correct. For the last two hours pens had been busy on board the 
Vivian, and letters were ready for despatch to San Francisco. George 
and Fred wrote brief accounts of their voyage, for the benefit of friends 
at home, and Commander Bronson embraced the opportunity to say what 
he thought best to the owners of the Vivian. The most that any of the 
party could say was that everybody was well, the voyage had been delight- 
ful thus far, the ship was all that could be desireo!, and the stores, so far 
as they had been examined, were in excellent condition. 

The signal, "we desire to communicate," was hoisted by the Vivian, 
and the Bearing responded by announcing that she would heave to. 
Then the Vivian signalled, " we will send a boat." As soon as the two 
vessels were hove to away went the boat from the Vivian's side, in charge 
of the second officer. The captain suggested that one of the youths 



A VISIT ON THE OCEAN. 55 

might go in the boat : there was a passage of politeness between Fred and 
George, each urging that the other should have the honor and novelty of 
the expedition, and as they could not decide upon it, the question was sub- 
- raitted to the commander. The latter promptly declared that the elder 
of the twain should go, and without another word Fred descended the 
rope-ladder and took his seat in the boat. 

She danced rapidly over the waves, and in a quarter of an hour Fred 
was on the deck of the JSekring, exchanging salutations with her captain. 
He was nearly knocked over by a large dog, that showed a desire to be 
familiar without the formality of an introduction, and the brute continued 
his attentions until dragged away by one of the sailors. The captain ex- 
plained that the dog was from Kamchatka, and had never been used to 
polite society; he was on his way to San Francisco, where it was hoped his 
manners would be improved. Fred observed that the animal was identical 
with what lie had seen in the pictures of the Esquimaux dog, and the 
captain confirmed his opinion by declaring that the Esquimaux and 
Kamchatka dogs are precisely the same. 

Fred delivered the package of letters for San Francisco, and gave the 
captain several newspapers of recent date. Then the second officer handed 
over a small parcel addressed to "the bark JSekring /" it contained 
letters that had been sent from San Francisco, on the chance that the 
Vivian might meet her, or be able to leave the missives where they could 
be delivered. On the w T ay back to the Vivian the officer explained to 
Fred that it is the custom to send letters in this way by every ship leav- 
ing port for a direction in which another is supposed to be. 

" My father,' 1 said he, " was the captain of a whaler in the old times, 
when they sailed from New Bedford and came home again, three or four 
years later, with the ship filled with oil and bone. My mother used to 
write by every ship that sailed for the Pacific Ocean; not more than one 
letter in twenty ever reached my father, but of course that one was wel- 
come enough to be a consolation for the loss of the rest." 

The Behring had sailed from Petropavlovsk, in Kamchatka, and was 
on her way to San Francisco, and her captain had nothing of consequence 
to report. He invited our friends below, and of course they accepted the 
invitation, but did not stay long, as it was getting late and there was no 
occasion for further delay. Just as they were leaving the eabih-he re- 
marked that the officials at Petropavlovsk were preparing to receive a 
French ship, which was shortly expected on its way to the Arctic Ocean. 
Letters had been received from the French Government for the officers 
of the ship, and with it came a message that the Gallic explorers had been 



56 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

instructed to stop at Petropavlovsk for their final instructions. He could 
not give the name of the ship, nor tell anything further than that such a 
craft was expected. 

The Behring filled away on her course for San Francisco, and her 
crew joined in a farewell cheer to the Vivian, as the boat of the latter 
started on its return. Just as the sun went below the horizon the boat 
was hoisted in, and the Vivian, turned her sails to the breeze that bore her 
to the northward. Fred was overjoyed at his part in the incident of visit- 
ing a ship at sea, and George was not far behind in excitement. Only 
those who have made long sea voyages can appreciate the feelings of the 
youths. A meeting at sea is a great relief to the monotony of sailing 
over the wide expanse of waters, and every incident, however trivial, be- 
comes an event of the greatest importance. 

When Fred made his report to Commander Bronson, he caused some 
perplexity to that gentleman. The story was a confirmation of what 
he had heard while the Vivian' 's preparations were going on — that a 
French expedition was on its w r ay to the Arctic Ocean by way of Behring 
Strait. He desired to co-operate in a friendly way with any expedition to 
the polar seas, without regard to its nationality, and when the report 
reached him he wrote at once to the American minister in Paris for any 
information he could obtain concerning it. The latter coirld learn nothing 
definite on the subject, as the French are very reluctant to let their neigh- 
bors know what they are doing in the line of explorations, and so the com- 
mander had pretty nearly dismissed it from his thoughts. 

The information derived from the captain of the Behring had thrown 
new light upon the subject, and he at once thought it would be of advan- 
tage to meet the French ship at Petropavlovsk, with a view to co-operation. 

" How much would it take us out of the direct course to Behring 
Strait," he inquired of Captain Jones, " if we should touch at Petro- 
pavlovsk ?" 

" About a thousand miles," was the reply. " I can tell you almost to a 
mile by measuring on our charts." 

" Never mind for the present," responded the commander ; " perhaps 
I will ask you more on the subject to-morrow." 

"As we are now steering," the captain explained, u we shall go through 
the Oonimak Passage of the Aleutian Islands, and enter Behring Sea. 
If we steer for Petropavlovsk, we shall leave the whole Aleutian chain 
to the northward, and go several degrees farther west than we expect to 
at present." 

Commander Bronson made no reply; the captain discreetly ventured 



AVATCHA AND ITS COMPANIONS. 



57 




58 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

a remark about the weather, and walked to the binnacle to see how the 
ship was headed. 

The commander went to his cabin, but the youths remained on deck and 
began to discuss the probabilities of their visiting Petropavlovsk. George 
remarked that Petropavlovsk was the principal settlement of the penin- 
sula of Kamchatka, and he was sure it would be a very interesting place. 

Dr. Tonner joined them, and to the question as to whether he had ever 
been in Kamchatka, he gave, to their delight, an affirmative answer. 

" I was there several years ago," said he, " and probably the country 
has not changed in any appreciable degree since my visit. There is noth- 
ing to change, or but very little, as the population is small, and- does not 
devote itself to building railways or otherwise making improvements."' 

" Please tell us something about Kamchatka, and what you saw there," 
said George. " If we go there the information will be useful, and if we 
do not visit Petropavlovsk, or any other port, we shall have learned some- 
thing at any rate." 

"Well," replied the Doctor, settling himself into a deck-chair, and 
evidently making preparations for a long dissertation, " Kamchatka is at 
the north-western extremity of Asia, as yon can see by a glance at the map. 

" It is not by any means as cold as you might suppose, from its position 
so far to the north. In fact, it is too warm to allow the inhabitants to 
raise wheat." 

The youths looked at each other with surprise, but were too well-bred 
to indicate a disbelief in the Doctor's assertion. 

" That statement requires explanation," continued Dr. Tonner, " and it 
is simple enough when you understand it. Kamchatka is a country of 
volcanoes and earthquakes ; three volcanoes, two of them extinct, and the 
third only acting sluggishly, are in sight from Petropavlovsk, and there 
are others in more distant parts of the peninsula. The underground fires 
make the earth warmer than it should be for agricultural purposes, and 
when I landed in Kamchatka, and asked why they did not make their 
own flour, they told me the summers were too short for the cultivation of 
spring wheat; and as for winter wheat it was invariably killed, because the 
warmth of the earth caused it to sprout before the snow melted. 

" They have had no severe earthquakes for a long time, but there are 
several mild shocks every year. When I was there I was invited to dine 
with the governor ; we were about half through with our dinner when 
there came a shock of an earthquake that threw down the chimney of the 
house, and shook the building so violently that it nearly overturned the 
table where we sat. I don't like dining under such circumstances, and we 



MOUNTAINS OF KAMCHATKA. 



59 




60 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

didn't finish the meal. The governor apologized, and I tried to laugh 
over the occurrence, but the fact is, I was too scared to do so. The cap- 
tain of our ship was of the party, and as he lived in San Francisco when 
not at sea he was able to take things coolly, and declared that he always 
had an earthquake for the third or fourth course at dinner. 

" Petropavlovsk is one of the prettiest places, so far as the situation is 
concerned, that you ever saw. It is on a great bay, nearly circular and 
twenty miles across, with an entrance two miles wide from the ocean. 
The bay is surrounded by mountains, and as you enter it the most majestic 
of them all is directly in front. The mountain gives its name to the bay, or 
the bay to the mountain, I don't know which. At all events, the expanse 
of water is called Avatcha Bay, and the mountain is Avatcha Mountain. 
It is a magnificent landmark, and can be seen through a clear atmosphere 
nearly a hundred miles at sea. 

" I shall never forget the scene as we entered the bay on a bright morn- 
ing in July. The tops of the mountains were white with snow; half-way 
down their sides the color changed to a barren brown, while the base of 
every hill was covered with a thick growth of forest which half suggested 
the tropics. The dark green of the forest was in several places relieved by 
a strip of white beach, which separated it from the waters of the bay, so 
that altogether the picture had a great deal of variety. Around the bay 
there are some little harbors — eight in all — completely landlocked, and 
furnishing admirable slielter to ships that seek them. On one of these 
harbors Petropavlovsk is situated ; the anchorage is enclosed like a pond, 
and the only winds that a ship has any occasion to fear are the sharp blasts 
that come down from the mountains. 

" We sailed into the great bay with the breeze that was blowing in 
from the ocean, but as we approached the little harbor it was necessary to 
move with caution. Our sails were furled one by one, and for the last 
mile or more we sent a line on shore and were warped to our anchorage. 
All the population came out to meet us, and our line was grasped b} T dozens 
of willing hands. Ordinarily, not more than half a dozen ships enter Pe- 
tropavlovsk in a year, so that an arrival is an event of importance. 

''From the time of Captain Cook and his fellow-explorers Petropavlovsk 
has been famous for its hospitality, and all travellers who have been there 
are warm in its praise. Our party was kept in constant activity during our 
stay, and the number of dinners and parties that were made in our honor 
is frightful to contemplate. It was in the middle of summer, with the 
thermometer generally above 70°, and by the end of the first week I was 
pretty well used up." 



A TOWN TENANTED BY DOGS. 



01 



Fred asked if Petropavlovsk was a large town, and what it lived upon. 

" It is not a large town, from our. point of view," responded Dr. Tonner, 
" but it is the largest in Kamchatka, and is the capital of the peninsula. 
-Before the Crimean War it had nearly two thousand inhabitants, the most 
of them being laborers and sailors connected with the government service. 
It Was attacked twice by the combined English and French fleets; in the 
first attack the fleet was repulsed, but in the following year seventeen ships 
were too much for it and the town was abandoned, and thereby hangs an 
amusing story. : 

" The Russian authorities knew of the immense preparations for the 
second assault, and sent orders for the inhabitants to retire when the fleet 
arrived, and allow it to land without opposition. The fleet came into 
Avatcha Bay, and the town was deserted ; but the people left behind them 
their dogs, which they use in winter for dragging their sledges. There 
was one man, an American, in the town, and more than live hundred dogs. 




fort st. Michael's, or michaelovski. 

The brutes kept up a perpetual howling, and the commanders of the fleet 
concluded that there must be a very large garrison in Petropavlovsk to 
keep so many watch-dogs; and so the seventeen English and French ships 
waited a whole day before venturing to send a boat on shore to a deserted 
town ! When they did so, they had the consciousness of being beautifully 
< sold.' 

" The principal business of Kamchatka, in fact the only business 



62 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 









KAMCHATKA SABLES. 



amounting to anything, is the fur trade, and the chief contributor of 
furs is the sable. The animal is caught in a variety of ways, and the 
annual catch is about six thousand. The yessak, or poll-tax, of the natives 
is payable in sable-skins — one skin to every four persons — and once a year 

the governor makes the tour of the 
country and collects the tax. The 
trade is on the barter principle, as 
there is very little money in the coun- 
try; the people bring their furs to 
the stores of the merchants, and ex- 
change them for whatever commodi- 
ties they want." 

George asked if they did not get 
a good many bear-skins, and the skins 
of foxes and others, in addition to the 
sable-skins. 

" Yes," replied the Doctor, " they 

do, but the sable is the animal of 

greatest consequence. They get about 

a thousand common fox-skins, and a few silver foxes and sea-otters, and 

once in a while they get a curiosity in the shape of a black fox. 

" The government claims every black fox as the property of the em- 
peror, and when the governor learns that one has been taken lie requires it 
to be surrendered, as a present to his imperial master." 

"And does the emperor get it?" one of the youths inquired. 
" He is more fortunate than I think he is if he does," said the Doctor, 
in answer to the question. "Siberian governors are human, and it is not 
impossible that the skin which should be sent to the emperor is privately 
sold to an American, or other foreign merchant, and sent out of the coun- 
try. The emperor is not likely to hear anything about it — and even if he 
does, the governor can declare that it is a long time since a real black fox 
was caught. 

" The silver fox and the black fox are both liable to be demanded for 
the emperor," he continued, " and the result is that the governor doesn't 
usually hear about them. When a native catches a silver fox, or by great 
good-luck a black one, he conceals the fact, and also the skin. Then he 
goes to one of the foreign merchants, and pledges him to secrecy before 
admitting what he has to sell. 

" As the merchant has a chance to buy the skin for about half its 
value, he is easily induced to be silent, especially as he might be compelled 



HOW A COW CAUGHT A BEAR. 63 

to give up the prize if the story should reach the ears of the governor. 
Thus it happens that the silver and gray foxes do not adorn the neck of 
the emperor as often as they might, if the subjects of the Imperial Gov- 
ernment were better treated. They would be willing to sell it to the gov- 
ernment at a fair price, but to give it up for little or nothing is not in 
accordance with the feelings of human nature." 

" But about the bears ?" queried George again. 

"They have great numbers of bears in Kamchatka," replied the 
Doctor, " but their skins are not used for exportation. The beasts grow 
very large, and they are not agreeable companions when one meets them 
in the woods. The bears are brown or black ; I have seen their skins 
more than six feet long, and been assured that the animals they originally 
belonged to were not considered at all extraordinary. Bear-hunting is 
one of the amusements of the country, but there is a good deal of danger 
to it. I went out on a bear-hunt one day with some friends, a few miles 
from Petropavlovsk, and was not at all sorry that we returned without 
seeing any game. I remembered the story of the California hunter who 
followed the track of a grizzly bear for nearly two days, and then gave it 
up because it was getting a little too fresh. As long as the bear is far off 
I enjoy a hunt, which I can't say always when he is close at hand. 

" They told me a story of a cow coming home, a year or two before 
my visit, with a bear on her back. She had made his acquaintance a 
short distance back of the town, and probably concluded that, as a dutiful 
cow, she should take him to her master. She was not much hurt by the 
performance, but it was observed afterwards that she preferred to do her 
grazing in the vicinity of her own stable. Formerly she had been ad- 
dicted to wandering in the woods, but her habits were completely changed 
by her adventure." 

The Doctor rambled on with his experiences of Kamchatka till it 
w r as time to go to bed. The youths had a good many questions to ask, 
and were by no means slow to ask them, and before the party broke up 
they had accumulated knowledge enough for the production of a news- 
paper article on this odd corner of the world. They learned that the 
country had an aboriginal population of about six thousand, and less than 
a thousand Russian inhabitants — the latter being pretty evenly divided 
between Cossacks and the descendants of exiles. The Doctor explained 
that there were no exiles in the country, as none had been sent there since 
1830, and all these had been pardoned long ago. Hardly any of the 
original exiles are living at present, but their children are often men- 
tioned as exiles, to distinguish them from the Cossack or native population. 



u 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




MOUNTED COSSACKS. 



" What is a Cossack?" Fred inquired, "and in what does lie differ from 
the soldier and the peasant ?" 

" I will try to explain," the Doctor answered, " and perhaps the best way 
for beginning is to compare the Cossack to a militiaman in the United 
States. He is sort of half soldier, half peasant ; he lives with his family, 
and is engaged in agricultural or other occupations, but is required to give 
a certain number of days every year to the service of the government. 
In some parts of Kussia the Cossack is required to serve on horseback, 
providing his own horse and equipments, but this is not the case in 
Kamchatka. In war he becomes a soldier, and does excellent service in 
annoying the enemy; in ordinary times he does any kind of work the 
government may require. He may be called on to row a boat, drive a 
team, build roads, cut forests, tend the governor's garden, or possibly take 
his children out to walk. 

" To show the authority of the government over the Cossacks I will 
give you an illustration : In 1S56 it was determined to colonize the valley 
of the Amoor Eiver in Siberia. There was a Cossack population in 
Eastern Siberia, and the governor-general gave orders that a hundred 
villages should be transferred to the Amoor. 



RUSSIAN COSSACKS. 



65 



" The order was carried out without delay. In each case the old vil- 
lage was abandoned for the new one, a thousand miles away ; the people, 
with their household goods, cattle, and other portable possessions, were 
floated on rafts down the Amoor to the points that had been selected for 
their homes. In the new village each family found itself with the same 
neighbors as of old, and everything went on as before. The government 
supplied them with food, and paid a part of the expense of building new 
houses, but of course the move was a severe loss to the people, as they 
abandoned the fields they had cultivated, and were forced to make new ones 
in the country to which they were carried. The ordinary peasant popula- 
tion of Russia cannot be moved about in this way, but the government can 
do pretty much as it pleases with the Cossacks." 




A VILLAGE ON THE AMOOR RIVER. 



" Haven't I read somewhere," said one of the youths, " that a Cossack 
is a robber ?" 

"Quite likely you have," was the reply, "and in many cases you are 
not so far out of the way. In some parts of Russia the Cossacks indulge 
in robbery to an extent greater than accords with our notions of honesty, 
and this is particularly the case along the frontier of Central Asia. The 

5 



6Q 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



word 'kazak' in Turkish means robber, but its Tartar interpretation is 
the equivalent of soldier. Most of the inhabitants of Eastern Siberia 
are Cossacks ; the whole country was originally explored and settled by 
Cossacks escaping from punishment which had been decreed for some 
improper conduct on the banks of the river Don. Their leader, Termak, 
received an imperial pardon for himself and his men, in consideration of 
the addition they had made to the empire, and for this reason the Cos- 
sacks of Siberia are naturally proud of their ancestry. 

" The Cossack, in many parts of Russia though not in all, has a dress 
peculiar to himself. He wears a tall hat of sheepskin with the wool out- 
side; sometimes its color is jet black, but more frequently it is of ii dingy 
white, caused by the contact of the wool with a good deal of dirt. He has 
wide trousers and a flowing coat ; he carries his cartridges in a row across 
his breast, and his arms consist of a lance, a carbine, and, generally, a pair 
of huge pistols stuck in his waist ; if he is a mounted soldier, he has a 
small but very tough horse. When an army is on the retreat, in Russia, 
the Cossacks are a terror, as they pick off all the stragglers and make sud- 
den attacks in unexpected places. If you have read the story of Napo- 
leon's retreat from Moscow, you will remember what devastation was 
caused by the Cossacks during the march." 

With this desultory lecture on Kamchatka and its people the evening 
came to an end. 




RUSSIAN CARPENTERS. 



A CHANGE OF PLAN. 67 



CHAPTER V. 

A. VISIT TO KAMCHATKA. 

THERE was a long conference the next morning between Commander 
Bronson and Captain Jones relative to the movements of the Vivian. 
It was held in the cabin immediately after breakfast, and required fre- 
quent consultation of the chart of the North Pacific Ocean. The chart was 
spread on the table, and several real or imaginary courses of the ship were 
pencilled upon it. 

" We shall have more sailing to do," said the captain, " if we go to 
Kamchatka instead of steering directly for Behring Strait; but if the 
wind continues to blow from the north, we shall make better headway by 
going farther to the west than if we keep directly towards the strait. At 
present it is almost a head-wind, and by steering more westerly we shall 
have it on the beam. 

" We shall be pretty certain to lose time at the Aleutian Islands on ac- 
count of the fogs. I have been a week getting through the Oonimak Pas- 
sage ; the fog was so thick I could not get an observation, and it is dan- 
gerous to beat around in that region without knowing exactly where you 
are. I have known ships to be kept there a fortnight, waiting for a good 
chance to pass the Aleutian Islands. Once, when I was second mate of 
the Rover, we sailed through the passage and were shut in by the fog im- 
mediately after. The fog lasted three days, without any wind, and when 
it lifted we found we had been carried back by the current, and had to 
make the passage over again." 

The captain paused while Commander Bronson made a calculation on 
a slip of paper. As soon as it was concluded, he went on with the "pros 
and cons" of the direct and indirect voyages to Behring Strait. 

The result of the calculation was, that there would be a loss of about 
ten days altogether in case the Vivian went to Petropavlovsk instead of 
proceeding directly to the strait. Even with this loss there would be 
ample time to get into the Arctic Ocean in season to take advantage of 
the summer; consequently, Commander Bronson decided in favor of the 
indirect voyage. 



68 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



The course of the ship was immediately changed, and it was announced 
to all on board that Petropavlovsk would be their first port. 

There were light winds and fogs, fogs and light winds, with now and 
then a corner of a gale, for the rest of the way across the Pacific. Not a 
sail was seen, and there was little to break the monotony; occasionally 




AVATCHA MOUNTAIN. 



the Vivian passed through schools of whales ; there was hardly a day 
when she was not surrounded by sea-birds; and several times the youths 
found their attention drawn to seals swimming close to the track of the 
ship. The captain said it was not unusual to find these amphibious creat- 
ures three or four hundred miles from land. They appear every summer 
on the Fur Seal Islands, in or near the Aleutian chain, and after raising 



AEEIVAL AT PETROPAVLOVSK. 69 

their families close to the habitations of men they go awaj r , nobody knows 
where. 

One day the captain made his observation at noon, and after figuring 
out his position, announced that they ought to see Avatcha Mountain 
about four in the afternoon. At that hour everybody was on the lookout ; 
and not five minutes after eight bells had been struck, the captain pointed 
out something on the horizon closely resembling a cloud. 

"That is Avatcha Mountain," said he, " and it is about eighty miles 
from us." 

It was two or three minutes before George and Fred could determine 
the position of the mountain, which lay almost dead ahead on their course. 
Even when the\ r made it out, they were not altogether certain till they 
compared it with the picture on the chart, and satisfied themselves it was 
not a conical cloud. 

The ship sailed slowly along during the night, and by morning was 
within twenty miles of the coast. At nine o'clock fires were kindled un- 
der the boilers, and by noon they were steaming inside the entrance to the 
bay, and heading for the anchorage in front of the little town. Captain 
Jones said that the sailing directions for reaching the harbor were practi- 
cally the same as made by the officers of Captain Cook's famous expe- 
dition more than a century ago. Avatcha Bay and the harbor of Petro- 
pavlovsk were surveyed by Lieutenant Bligh, who accompanied Captain 
Cook, and afterwards became known to the world for his connection with 
the romantic story of the mutiny of the Bounty. "From all accounts," 
said the captain, " Bligh was an admirable navigator and a detestable 
brute. He has left a record of splendid seamanship and the most heart- 
less tyranny. The mutiny of the Bounty was the natural result of his 
brutal treatment of her officers and crew, and his escape from the perils of 
a voyage of four thousand miles in an open boat illustrates his skill as a 
sailor." 

The red roof of the little church at Petropavlovsk was a prominent 
object in the picture before our friends as the Vivian steamed to her an- 
chorage. George brought his glass to bear on the church, and discovered 
that the building, though crowned with a dome, had no belfry ; by looking 
closely he made out that the bells were hung under a little roof at one end 
of the church, and quite apart from it. Commander Bronson explained 
that it was not at all uncommon in Russia for the churches to have their 
bell-towers entirely apart from the structure. Fred asked the reason for 
it, but the conundrum was not answered. 

The Russian flag floated from the staff in front of the governor's house, 



70 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




CHURCH AT PETROPAVLOVSK. 



and a cannon at the little wharf near by boomed out its welcome. Several 
boats put off from shore, the first bringing the Captain of the Port, an 
official without whose authority it was impossible to go on shore or do any- 
.thing else. He was a portly individual, wearing the uniform of his rank, 
and decorated along his breast with a row of stars and crosses. Captain 
Jones whispered to the youths that there is no country in the world where 
the officers have so many decorations as in Russia, and they need not be 
surprised to meet a young lieutenant, hardly out of his majority, wearing 
at least half a dozen decorations which had been given for services in time 
of peace. What a war might give him, provided he lived through it, was 
hardly to be computed. 

As soon as the Captain of the Port had completed his inspection and 
retired there was liberty for others to come on board, or for the officers of 
the Vivian to go on shore. Two or three resident merchants, and the 
captain of an American ship lying at anchor in the harbor, were soon on 
her deck to make the acquaintance of the strangers, and invite them to the 
hospitalities of the place ; last came an officer from a French bark which 
lay just beyond the sand-spit marking the entrance of the harbor, and 
which Commander Bronson had rightly conjectured to be the craft which 



ON SHOEE IN KAMCHATKA. 71 

lie wished to see. Excusing himself from the others, he turned his atten- 
tion to the latest visitor, and learned that the Gallic explorer was the bark 
Gambetta, and had arrived only three days before. It was her comman- 
der's intention to remain two or three days longer: he had been informed 
of the voyage of the Vivian, and hoped she would visit Petropavlovsk be- 
fore his departure. 

Captain Jones and Major Clapp, with the assistance of the Doctor 
and our young friends, did the honors to the other visitors, and in a little 
while the commander went on shore to pay his respects to the governor; 
he was accompanied by the major and the Doctor. Fred and George em- 
braced the opportunity to have a stroll around the town, and on the hills 
near the harbor, and we can be sure it was a great pleasure for them to set 
foot on solid earth after nearly a month on board ship. George declared 
that his steps were unsteady for the first half mile or so, and Fred could 
not resist an inclination to adjust himself to meet an expected rolling or 
pitching every time he raised a foot. 




DOG-SLEDGING IN KAMCHATKA. 



But they soon forgot all about their month at sea with the novelty 
of the sights around them. They realized what they had been told of the 
dogs of the place, as they encountered some of those animals at every turn, 
and were rarely out of sound of their howls. They did not have a high 
opinion of the courage of the dogs, as the most of them ran away as soon 



72 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

as they caught sight of the strangers ; occasionally one would stop a mo- 
ment to gaze, but he generally concluded to put a good distance between 
himself and possible harm. Near the edge of the town a dozen or more 
dogs were tied to a long pole supported on posts. Fred said the place was 
either a stable or a dog boarding-house, and he was inclined to the latter 
opinion from the smell of fish that rose from it. 

One of the resident merchants who had visited them at the ship joined 
them in their promenade, and explained some of the things they could not 
understand. Fred asked about the dogs, and the gentleman said his theory 
was correct. "The dogs," said he, "are generally tied up in summer, or 
kept in pens; if allowed to run at large they get lost or injured, as tliey 
are fond of fighting and can get into a quarrel without half trying. We 
tie them up as you saw them, and each dog gets one fish daily as his ration. 
In New York it would be extravagant to feed dogs on salmon, but here it 
is the cheapest article of food. The only cost of salmon is the trouble of 
catching it. When we buy these fish we pay two or three cents apiece, 
and if I agreed to take all that would be caught, and pay one cent each, 
I should have half the population at work for me. Ordinarily, in winter, 
there are about two thousand dogs in and around Petropavlovsk, as every- 
body has his dog-team, and many of us keep several teams for carrying 
freight. In summer most of the dogs are sent to the country, so that there 
are only four or five hundred of them around here at present. 

"This place is just like New York," he continued. "The fashionable 
part of the population passes the summer in the country or by the sea-side. 
Board is cheaper there than here, as the streams in the interior abound in 
salmon; sometimes they are so thick that they fill up the stream altogether 
and drive out the water, and a friend of mine says he has walked on them 
as on a pile of shingles or a heap of potatoes ! 

" Perhaps you may think that statement is too strong, and I won't dis- 
pute you; but they really are so abundant that the bears and dogs catch 
their own fish out of the brooks, and the bears soon get so dainty that they 
will only eat the backs of those they catch. The fish keep on going up the 
stream till their tails are worn off against the rocks, and I have repeatedly 
seen them taken from the water with nothing but the bone protruding 
where the tail ought to be ! 

"And perhaps you may be sceptical about the dogs catching their own 
fish? Look there!" 

As he spoke he pointed to where a couple of dogs were standing in the 
water at the edge of the bay, and evidently waiting for something to turn 
up. They were so far out that little more than their backs were visible, 



THE USES OF SALMON. 



73 



and they held their noses just on a level with the surface of the water. 
They were standing perfectly motionless, like sporting-clogs on a " point," 
and the gentleman said they were foraging for their breakfast and waiting 
for salmon. 

Suddenly one' of the dogs darted his head under water with the 
rapidity of a flash, and there was a lively commotion for a minute or 
more. It ended in favor of the dog, who came up triumphant with a 
salmon of his own catching in his jaws, and brought him safely to shore. 




DOGS CATCHING FISH. 



"Even the cows and horses eat salmon," said their guide, "but they 
never imitate the example of the dogs, and catch their own food. It is 
proper to explain that they 'prefer grass, and generally stick to it when 
it can be obtained. We give them dried salmon in winter, and if we 
run short of hay they soon get accustomed to this odd food. There is one 
cow here that will leave grass in summer and make a meal off fresh sal- 
mon ; but she is an exception, and not a rule. 

" We feed the dogs on fish the whole year round ; they eat it in every 
shape — fresh, dry, putrid, boiled, smoked, or any other form you can 
imagine. One fish a day is a dog's ration ; when he is travelling he only 
gets half that amount, and the day before he starts on a journey he gets 
nothing at all." 

" It seems cruel to treat them so," one of the youths remarked, "but of 
course you know from experience what is best for them." 



74 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" Yes," was the reply. " When I first came here I thought it was very 
hard on the dogs to be only half fed while at work, and determined to 
treat mine differently; but I soon found I did not get so much out of 
them. They did not travel as fast and far as teams that were kept in the 
old way, were sooner broken down, and were in worse condition when the 
summer came around again, so I concluded to do for the future as the 
natives did. 

" Perhaps you've heard enough about dogs ?" he continued, " and if so, 
we'll talk about something else." 

George assured him that they had not begun to get enough of the sub- 
ject, as they were likely to make an intimate acquaintance with dogs in 
their arctic expedition, and the sooner they knew about them the better. 

"Well, then," said their informant, "let me give you a piece of advice 
at the outset. When you get among the dogs, and are going to use them 
for travel, the first thing to do is to make their intimate acquaintance. 
You must feed them yourself, and give them all the care they require: 
have them understand that you are their master in every sense of the word. 
When they do wrong, don't fail to punish them at once; and when thej^ do 
well, you must be just as prompt to reward them. You won't be able to 
get up much affection for them, and they will obey you more from fear 
than from love. They have treacherous dispositions, and are not usually 
capable of warm attachments. You know what a reputation the spitz dog 
bears in New York and elsewhere ; well, the spitz is first cousin to the 
Kamchadale dog, and his name comes from Spitzbergen, whence his an- 
cestors were imported. He has improved by domestication, but is yet the 
most undesirable of family dogs. 

" You must drive your own dogs as well as feed them, and when yon 
begin to practice dog-driving you will find it is no sport. The dogs will 
take the first and every opportunity to run away. We harness them with 
thongs of deer-skin, and they go in pairs with a leader, so that a team 
always consists of an odd number. A great deal depends on the leader; 
he is selected for his intelligence and docility, and a good leader is worth 
four or five times as much as an ordinary team-dog. He turns to the right 
or left at the order of his driver, and frequently when the team is tired 
out, and drags slowly along, the leader will rouse them by barking, and 
pretending that he is on the track of a wild animal. This will stir them 
up, and the brutes forget their weariness in the excitement of the chase. 

" There are two kinds of sledges that we use, one for travel and the 
other for freight. The travelling sledge weighs about twenty-five pounds, 
and is just large enough to carry one person with a little baggage. The 



TRAVELLING WITH DOG-SLEDGES. 75 

driver sits with bis feet hanging over the side, and clings to a bow that 
rises in front. In one hand he holds an iron-pointed staff called an ostoll, 
which he uses as a brake to retard the sledge while descending hills, or to 
bring it to a halt. If yon drop the ostoll the dogs know it as quickly as 
you do, and take the opportunity to run away or upset the sledge, and 
even the leader is apt to join in the sport. 

" The freight sledge is much heavier than the other, and sometimes 
as many as twenty-one dogs are harnessed to it. The team for a freight 
sledge is not trained to high speed like the travelling team, and it is never 
well to allow your travelling dogs to be used for freighting purposes, as it 
is very hard to get them to run rapidly when they have once practised a 
slower gait. An ordinary team for travelling is five dogs — two pairs and 
jl leader — but very often we use only three dogs in a team." 




GETTING READY FOR THE ROAD. 



Fred asked how fast the dogs could travel, and what distances they 
usually made in a day. 

" That depends on the length of the journey and the condition of the 
snow," was the reply. " For a week or ten days we are satisfied with 
forty or fifty miles a day, if the snow is good, and for two or three days' 
travel under the same conditions we make fifty or sixty miles daily. I 
have gone a hundred miles in little more than a day with a single team, 
and once a team travelled from Bolcheretsk to Petropavlovsk — a hundred 
and twenty-five miles — in twenty-three hours. It made three or four halts 
of not more than fifteen minutes each time. The snow was excellent, and 
the dogs were in the very best condition, while the driver was a small man 



76 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

and had no baggage of any kind. He was a messenger bringing news of 
the declaration of the Crimean War. 

" We don't use the dogs for sledging in summer, as I told yon before, 
but occasionally some of the natives harness them up for towing boats 
along the shore of the bay just to keep them in practice." 



^ogv^^^^ 




BOAT TOWED BY DOGS. 



He pointed, as he spoke, to a boat which was coming along the shore, 
and the youths saw that it was propelled in the manner described. Four 
persons were in the boat, one of whom steered it, while another attended 
to the tow-line ; two others were seated nearly amidships, and evidently 
had nothing to do with the management of the craft. The team was walk- 
ing along the bank, under the guidance of a man armed with a stick, and 
whenever they showed a disposition to lag he impelled them forward with 
his voice and occasional blows. 

George said it was certainly a novel mode of travelling, and a re- 
minder of the old days of going west by canal. 

" In North-eastern Siberia," said their guide, " they use dogs for ascend- 
ing the rivers in summer in the way you see. From Ghijiga light-house 
to the village of that name they follow the river a part of the way, and 



DOGS AND KEINDEEE. 77 

the journey is not at all disagreeable. Occasionally the path shifts from 
one bank of the stream to the other, and then the dogs and driver are 
taken in the boat to be ferried over. At such times the dogs amuse them- 
selves by shaking the mud and water from their shaggy coats, and it is 
well for a passenger to wear his worst clothes on such journeys. 

"The best dogs in Siberia are in the neighborhood of Ghijiga and 
around Penjinsk Gulf, which is an arm of the Okhotsk Sea. Most of the 
Russians buy their dogs from the natives, and there are several villages 
where the raising of these animals is the main business. Like everything 
else of value that we use, the price is regulated by the laws of supply and 
demand ; sometimes dogs are very cheap, and at others very dear." 

Fred asked if the dogs of Kamchatka were subject to the same diseases 
as the canines of civilized life. 

" Quite as much," said their informant ; " and perhaps we may say that 
they are more so. They suffer greatly from hydrophobia, and every few 
years thousands of them are carried off by epidemics. The cause of these 
epidemics is unknown, and it has happened that all the dogs in a village 
will die off in the course of a fortnight without any apparent reason. Some 
of the native tribes make sacrifices to their deities, and invariably take their 
best dogs for the purpose. We have tried to convince them that the old 
and useless, or even the dead dogs, would do just as well, but they refuse 
to believe us. They show their faith in the power of the evil spirits by 
offering up the best of their possessions." 

George asked if there were any reindeer around Petropavlovsk, and 
said if there were he would like to see them. 

" We don't have reindeer in these parts," was the reply. " You will 
see plenty of them on the shores of the Arctic Ocean when you have 
passed Behring Strait. They are the principal possession of the Chuck- 
chees, the tribe that occupies that part of the country ; and when you ask 
how much a man is worth, they state the amount in reindeer, just as you 
state it in dollars in New York." 

Then the conversation shifted to a variety of topics. The youths 
learned that the place was named Petropavlovsk in honor of saints Peter 
and Paul, but they could not ascertain how it happened to have two names 
when one would have been quite enough. As before stated, it had nearly 
two thousand inhabitants previous to the Crimean War, but since that time 
the government has transferred its -arsenal and naval depot to Nicolayeff 
and Vladivostok, farther to the south, and the port of St. Peter and St. 
Paul is shorn of its importance. It now has about three hundred inhabi- 
tants, including a garrison of fifty soldiers and half a dozen officials. 



78 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




In the grounds of the residence of the Captain of the Port there is a 
monument in honor of Vitus Behring, whose name is preserved in the 
strait between America and Asia. On a tongue of land is another monu- 
ment, but without an inscrip- 
tion ; it is known as the monu- 
ment to La Perouse, and the 
story goes that a French ship- 
of-war was once at Petropavl- 
ovsk, and her captain was in- 
vited to dine with the governor. 
During dinner the Frenchman 
said he supposed there was a 
monument there to La Perouse, 
as that navigator visited the 
place on the voyage which re- 
sulted in the destruction of his 
ships and their entire company. 
" Certainly there is," an- 
swered the Russian, " and I will 
show it to you to-morrow." 
He had the monument made 
and set up during the night. The next morning he invited the French 
captain to go with him to see it. Of course the latter was delighted, and 
it is to be hoped he did not observe the newness of the construction. The 
memorial to Behring was paid for by the officers of a Russian ship, and 
was made in St. Petersburg; the other is of sheet- iron, nailed over a 
frame of wood, and was evidently constructed in a few hours. Fred re- 
marked that it was riddled with bullet -holes, and learned that it was 
a favorite target for the practice of anybody who chose to take a shot 
at it. 

For the next two or three days the strangers had an excellent oppor- 
tunity to learn the extent of Russian hospitality, which has been already 
mentioned. There was an endless succession of breakfasts, dinners, lunch- 
eons, and suppers; and on the latter occasions it was not unusual for the 
party to sit down at the table considerably past midnight. Not only did 
they have all the meals above enumerated, but whenever they entered 
a Russian house, no matter how humble, and remained more than five 
minutes, they were greeted with a steaming tea-urn and cups or glasses 
of tea. Here is the diary made by George of the repasts of a single 
day: 



MONUMENT TO BEHRING, PETROPAVLOVSK. 



A POLYGLOT PICNIC. 79 

" Breakfast on board ship. 

Two cups of tea with Mr. Pfluger. 

One cup of tea with Mr. Pierce. 

Do, do. with Captain Hunter. 

Do. do. at a Russian house (owner's name unpronounceable.) 

Do. do. do. do. do. do. do. 

Luncheon with the Captain of the Port. 

Cup of tea at each of three houses where we called. 

Dinner at the governor's house. 

Tea at intervals of fifteen minutes during the evening. 

Supper of broiled partridges at 11.30. 

More tea. 

P. S. — Headache next morning." 

One day there was a picnic arranged by the ladies and gentlemen of 
Petropavlovsk for the entertainment of the visitors. The latter included, 
in addition to our friends, the officers of the Gambetta and the officers of 
an American merchant-ship then in port. The entertainment was held in 
a little grove about a mile from town — a short distance from the spot 
where the Russians repulsed the men that landed from the allied fleet 
during the Crimean War. The picnickers sat on the grass under the trees, 
after the custom of picnics all over the world, and our friends voted that 
they had a jolly time. 

George said it might be called a polyglot picnic, on account of the 
nationalities represented. The entertainers were Russians and Americans, 
while the guests were Americans and French, with the addition of an 
Italian, a Swede, and a Dane. Conversation was somewhat restricted, as 
none of the American or French visitors were fluent in Russian, and sev- 
eral of the entertainers could speak nothing else. But what they lacked 
in lingual facility was made up in good-will, and there was many a hearty 
laugh over the difficulties of being understood. George and Fred made a 
mental note of the strange dishes at the feast, though they had already 
seen most of them at the dinner-tables of their hosts. There were sev- 
eral pirogs, or pies, quite unknown to the American table, and some of 
them were voted excellent. One was made of salmon and eggs, with a 
crust above and below ; another was composed of the marrow of the back- 
bone of the sturgeon ; while a third was filled with partridges, cut in 
halves and alternated with slices of bacon. Of course they had tea in 
abundance, and it was accompanied by numerous odds and ends of cakes 
and patties, so that there was no danger of any one going away hungry. 
In fact, when they returned to the ship for dinner all our friends confessed 
their inability to do justice to the repast which their cook had prepared. 

A return entertainment was given on board the Vivian, and another 



so 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



on the Gambetta, the latter vessel sailing a few hours af ter the last of her 
o-uests had left. The next day the Vivian followed her example, and 
continued her voyage to the northward. They passed the rocks known 
as " The Three Brothers," in front of the light-house at the entrance of 
Avatcha Bay, and were once more on the broad waters of the Pacific. 
The fires were extinguished, and as the ship spread her sails to the favor- 
ing wind Fred made a hasty sketch of the rocks, as a souvenir of his visit 
to a remote but exceedingly friendly port. 




'THE THREE BROTHERS. 



BEHRING'S VOYAGES. 81 



CHAPTER VI. 

BEHRING'S ISLAND AND BEHRING'S VOYAGES.— AMONG THE CHUCKCHEES. 

SAILING north from Avatcha Bay the Vivian passed Behring's Island, 
in the Sea of Kamchatka. The name of the island naturally caused 
the youths to ask several questions concerning it, and they were promptly 
answered by Dr. Tonner. 

" In that island," said the Doctor, as he pointed to one of its rocky 
headlands, "the brave old navigator after whom it was named died and 
was buried, but the location of his grave is unknown. He deserves much 
renown for his arctic explorations, and is worthy of additional fame, as 
he is one of the discoverers of America." 

Fred and George were not a little surprised at this announcement, as 
they had never heard the name of Behring associated with that of Colum- 
bus or Americas Vespucius. The Doctor went on with his story, which 
was about as follows : 

"Peter the Great formed a project \ s -k ? 

ior making discoveries m the ocean be- 
yond Kamchatka, and several explorers 
were sent to the eastern part of Asia 
with that object in view. Very little 
was accomplished in the lifetime of 
that monarch, but his plans were car- the ermine. 

ried out by his successors. 

" Behring sailed from Avatcha Bay in June, 1741, and steered to the 
eastward. 'On the 16th of July,' says Steller, the historian and naturalist 
who accompanied Behring, ' we saw a mountain whose height was so great 
that it was visible at the distance of sixteen Dntch miles. The coast of 
the continent was much broken, and indented with bays and harbors.' 

" This discoveiw was made on the day of St. Elias, and accordingly the 
mountain was named in honor of that saint. If you wish to become famil- 
iar with its location you can look for Mount St. Elias on the map of North 
America. 

6 




82 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



" Behring sailed a short distance along the coast, and visited several 
islands. Then he steered for Kamchatka; but it was his destiny never to 
get there. In the latter part of the voyage he was confined to his cabin 
by illness, and the crew suffered severely from scurvy. Steller says that 
at one time only ten persons were fit for duty, and they were so weak that 




A SIBERIAN FOX-TRAP. 



they could not furl the sails. The ship was thus left almost at the mercy 
of the winds, and in this condition it was drifted on a rocky island — the 
one now before us. It was dashed to pieces on the rocks, but not until all 
the crew had reached the land in safety. 

" There were no human inhabitants on the island, but there were a 
great many foxes, and they seemed to have no fear of the shipwrecked 
mariners. Steller says, ' We killed many of them with our hatchets and 
knives. They annoyed us greatly, and we were unable to keep them from 
entering our shelters and stealing our clothing and food.' 

" Man}' of the crew died soon after they got on shore, but on the whole 
the life on land seems to have diminished the ravages of scurvy among 
those who were not already far gone with the disease. Behring died on 
the 8th of December, and was buried in the trench where he lay. The 
survivors of the party built a small vessel from the pieces of the wreck, 
and managed to reach Avatcha Bay with it. On their arrival they learned 
that they had been given up for dead, and the property they had left in 
Kamchatka had been appropriated by strangers. 

"The report of the large number of fur-bearing animals on Behring' s 



ORIGIN OF THE RUSSIAN FUR COMPANY. 83 

Island and elsewhere stimulated several adventurers to fit out expeditions 
in the hope of making a handsome profit. The ships were built in Kam- 
chatka, or in the ports of the Okhotsk Sea; they were of the rudest con- 
struction, the timbers being fastened with wooden pins, owing to the scarc- 
ity or entire absence of metal nails, and in some cases they were tied to- 
gether with leathern thongs. The crevices were calked with moss, the 
sails were of reindeer skins, and the rigging was made of thongs of the 
same material. A good many of these ships w r ere wrecked, but others 
made the voyage safely and brought back loads of furs. 

" Out of these expeditions grew the Russian-American Company, which 
received the administration and control of North-western America, and had 
the exclusive right to the commerce of a vast territory. The company 
occupied Russian America and the Aleutian and Kurile Islands, and 
pushed its traffic into the Arctic Ocean. It had a monopoly of trade, law, 
and everything else; it reduced the inhabitants to a condition little better 
than slavery, by compelling them to labor for the company at any time 
they were wanted, and at whatever prices the company chose to pay, and 
it managed to control them by keeping them always in debt. 

" The company's centre of operations was at Sitka, but it w r as not es- 
tablished without considerable opposition by the natives. At one time the 
natives were victorious; the Russians were driven from Sitka, and the fort 
they had erected was destroyed. But the invaders came back and estab- 
lished themselves firmly ; complaints of their tyranny and abuses reached 
St. Petersburg, and a commission was sent to investigate them. After that 
time affairs went along more smoothly, the profits from the trade in furs 
were large, and the company made fine dividends. But the fur-bearing an- 
imals, principally the fur seal, were killed off too rapidly, the profits dimin- 
ished, the company's affairs ran down, and finally its title was extinguished, 
and the country was sold by Russia to the United States. 

" There, you have a whole page of history," said the Doctor, " and it all 
grew out of our interest in the island we are passing. Perhaps you knew 
it before, but a repetition will do no great harm. Sitka is now an Amer- 
ican town, and the flag of the United States floats over the former resi- 
dence of the Russian governor, on a high rock at the foot of Mount Edge- 
combe. The fur trade is in the hands of an American company, which is 
said to make much larger dividends to its stockholders than the old Rus- 
sian company was ever able to give." 

" But what is Alaska good for, now that we have it ?" was the very 
natural and practical query of one of the youths. 

" That question was very freely discussed at the time we bought the 



84 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

country," the Doctor answered. " We acquired a good deal of ice, polar 
bears, and similar property with our purchase, and as an investment of 
money it is doubtful if the speculation was a profitable one. From a pa- 
triotic point of view it was better, as it gave us a large area of territory 
and removed the possibility of trouble between ourselves and Russia at 
some future time. It is a protection to the fisheries in the North Pacific 
Ocean, and since the purchase they have grown to considerable impor- 
tance. Gold has been discovered in several places, but gold mining can 
hardly be carried on with profit, on account of the long winters and the 
deep snows that lie on the ground for so large a part of the year. It 
is possible that some exceptionally rich mines may be found, similar 
to those in Siberia, but up to the present time they have not been dis- 
covered. 

" But the American ea°:le can scream more loucllv than before we 
bought Alaska, as there is more for him to scream about ; and as the 
lungs of that bird require to be well exercised, we are not so badly off as 
we might be in the possession of this frigid region." 

It was arranged between the commanders of the Vivian and the Gam- 
betta that the ships would meet at East Cape, the most north-easterly point 
of Asia, and forming one side of Behring Strait. Each- was to make a 
direct course under sail, and the first at the rendezvous would wait three 
days for the other before proceeding. In case of her departure she would 
leave a memorandum where it could be found by the other. There was 
usually a summer encampment of Chuckchees at that point, but they could 
not be relied on to be there ; in case there should be such an encampment, 
the memorandum would be intrusted to its chief. 

There was no incident of consequence daring the voyage from Petro- 
pavlovsk to East Cape, but there was enough to do in reading up the his- 
tory of arctic research, and observing the peculiarities of the high northern 
latitude, to prevent time hanging heavy on the hands of our young friends. 
Every hour they were coming nearer to the Polar Circle ; the days length- 
ened, till it seemed as though there would soon be no night, the air was 
perceptibly cooler, the sea-birds were more numerous than in the direct 
voyage across the Pacific, whales and seals abounded in the waters, and 
the shore, whenever they passed near enough to discern its character, was 
a scene of desolation. Entering the strait and passing around the cape, 
the captain said they were within the Arctic Circle, and had reached the 
regions of the midnight sun. 

The Gambetta was at anchor in a little bay, sheltered from all winds 
except from the north and east; on the shore was an encampment of 



THE CAPITAL OF ALASKA. 



85 




f i 



MM ^ 



iwf- 

ft, lo r "' - 
IP ' 

llWll 



!.^ 



SQ THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

natives, and in the waters around the Gambetta several of the native boats 
were plying. 

As soon as the Vivian had dropped her anchor Commander Bronson 
and Major Clapp went on board the Gambetta, while Dr. Tonner, with 
Fred and George, proceeded to the shore. The youths were anxious to 
visit the native village, and the good Doctor was by no means loath to 
accompany them. 

A Chuckchee boat preceded them, and on the way to the shore 
George made a sketch of the strange craft. Arrived at the land, the 
native boat was drawn up along-side their own, and the youths examined 
it critically. 

Here is the description which George entered in his note-book : 

" The Chuckchee boat is unlike anything I ever saw in the waters 
around New York. Its native name is bydara, and it consists of a frame- 
work of wood, over which a covering of deer-skins is stretched. The 
skins are sewn together very tightly, and, when properly made and 
handled, these boats are said to leak very rarely. In getting into the boat 
you must be careful not to step on the bottom, or you might put your foot 
through the skins, which are often kept in use until quite tender. 

" They have a short mast, carrying a square sail which is also made 
from deer-skins, unless the owner is lucky enough to get a piece of old 
canvas from a whaling ship. On each side of the bydara they generally 
carry a seal-skin blown up like a bladder and securely fastened to the 
boat at each end ; these seal-skins serve to buoy the craft in case she heels 
over from the effect of the wind or the waves, or is tipped by the clumsy 
movement of an occupant. 

" They carry heavy burdens in these boats, and venture fearlessly out 
into the open sea. Occasionally they cross to the North American con- 
tinent for the purpose of trading with the Eskimos, but their favorite 
plan is to meet the Eskimos on Diomede Island, about midway between 
the continents, so that neither is within the territory of the other." 

Lying on the bank not far from the boat was an inflated seal-skin, at- 
tached to a line ten or twelve feet long; the other end of the line was 
tied to a harpoon, and the youths naturally wondered what was the use 
of the apparatus. 

" That is what they use for catching walrus and whales," said the 
Doctor. " The way they do it is this : 

" They fill the boat with as many men as it will hold, and in addition 
to their paddles they carry long slips of whalebone, which are flat at the end 
like a piece of board. They paddle to the spot where a walrus has been 



WALRUS-HUNTING. 



87 



seen to dive, and then half the men pound on the water with the whale- 
bones in such a way as to make a peculiar cracking sound. This rouses 
the curiosity of the walrus, and he comes up to see what it all means. 
If they are near enough to throw the harpoon it is darted by the man in 
the bow; another in the middle of the boat poises the seal-skin and 
throws it simultaneously with the harpoon. If they are lucky enough to 
hit the walrus he drags the seal-skin after him as he dives; it pulls steadi- 
ly on the harpoon, and after a while brings him to the surface, where he 
gets another harpoon, and then another and another. 




A CHUCKCHEE BOAT. 



" The old adage that ' it is the first step which costs,' is well illus 
trated by the Chuckchee mode of catching the walrus. A great many 
efforts are made to get the first harpoon into him, and sometimes a whole 
day will be passed in continuous failures. But when a harpoon is prop 
erly fastened into one of these animals he can be easily traced by the 
floating seal-skin, and the rest of the job is comparatively easy." 

"And did you say they catch whales in the same way?" one of the 
youths asked. 

" Certainly," was the reply, " but they need a great many floats to hold 
him up, so that he cannot dive. It is only when a whale or a walrus is 
prevented from diving by the number of floats attached to him, that they 
can lance and kill him. Half a dozen will suffice for an ordinary Walrus, 
and a dozen for a large one, but in the case of a whale a great many are 
needed. He has to be stuck full of harpoons, and the seal-skins and blad- 
ders almost hide his body from sight. The capture of a whale is a matter 



88 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

of great importance to this people, as you will realize when you know 
something of their habits and mode of life." 

While our friends were examining the boat, and talking about it, they 
were surrounded by a group of natives, who looked at them with a good 
deal of curiosity, but without any rudeness of manner. They wore a dress 
of deer-skins from which the hair had been stripped. Dr. Tonner ex- 
plained to the youths that this was the summer costume, the clothing for 
winter being much heavier and lined with fur. The costume was a sim- 
ple one, as it consisted of a tunic, like a shirt, which came nearly to the 
knee, while the lower limbs were encased in garments which fitted rather 
more closely than the trousers of civilization. 

Fred noticed that all the strangers had the crown of the head shaven 
smooth, and asked the Doctor if they were members of a priestly order. 
Dr. Tonner replied that it is the custom of this people, and also of some 
•other tribes in Siberia, to shave the head, and they are very careful in its 
observance. Why they did so he could not say, except that it was the 
fashion. Fashion rules as imperiously among savages all over the world 
as in the extreme of civilization, and whatever she commands is obeyed. 
A Chuckchee would no more think of rebelling against the shaving prac- 
tices of his tribe than would a society man of New York venture to disre- 
gard the rules of etiquette prevailing in that city. 

"They have strange customs relative to the disposal of their old and 
infirm people," said the Doctor. "According to the statements of several 
who have been among them, they have a practice of killing the aged 
members of their tribe, and the curious thing about it is, that the victims 
:are always entirely reconciled to being thus put away, and the sacrifice 
is generally at their request. There seems to be no doubt that such is the 
■case ; one gentleman (Mr. Richard J. Bush), who has written a book about 
this country, visited a spot where one of these executions was about to 
take place." 

" Did he stay to witness it ?" George inquired. 

" Not by any means," replied the Doctor — " partly because he was 
greatly disinclined to do so, and partly because the natives did not seem 
willing to go on with the ceremony in the presence of a stranger. When 
yon go back to the ship you had better read what Mr. Bush tells on the 
subject." 

George promised to do so, and faithfully kept his promise. Here is 
what he read, on page 439 of " Reindeer, Dogs, and Snowshoes :" 

" During one of our visits to the lower end of the bay we saw quite a large group of natives 
assembled at a spot on the rugged mountain-side, about half a mile back of the village, and being 



AN EXCITING MOMENT. 



S9 




^"'^'r'^'^ip 



90 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

curious to know what they were about, a boat was lowered and a party of us started for shore. 
We had to make an ascent of a few hundred feet over the loose, jagged fragments of rock, and it 
was not without some difficulty that we reached the place. On all sides, scattered over the rocks, 
were crushed human skulls and other bones, and we at once decided that this was the spot where 
they killed the old and disabled of their tribe. Our first impression was that we were to witness 
one of these acts of barbarity, and I confess to a feeling of reluctanca and sick-heartedness as we 
approached the group ; but their lively chattering and occasional laughter disarmed our suspicions. 

" There were about forty persons present, from old men and women down to mere babes, all 
of whom appeared to be in the best of spirits. We thought they were about to make an offering 
to their gods, and calling aside Naukum, one of the natives who had learned, to speak a little 
English from intercourse with whalers and traders, we began to question him about it. Pointing 
to one in the group, he replied, ' See old man — no got eyes — bimeby kill um.' Looking where 
he pointed, we beheld an old blind man seated upon a rock among the other natives, but his face 
wore an expression of such perfect calmness and unconcern that I looked elsewhere to find the 
victim, thinking I was mistaken in the person pointed to. No one was showing him any kind of 
attention, neither was there anything in his appearance, nor in the actions of his companions, to 
lead to the suspicion that he was so soon to be ushered into the next world. . . . 

"We had some difficulty in making out Naukum's explanation of the matter, but at length 
comprehended that it was by the old man's request they were going to kill him. He had plenty 
of deer, and was beyond want, but the previous year he had lost his only son, whom he loved very 
much, since which time life had become a burden to him, and he wanted his tribe to put him out 
of existence. The day had been once before fixed, but his little grandson begged so piteously that 
the old man consented to live for his grandson's sake. But he had again changed his mind, and 
his wishes were now about to be gratified." 

The natives were unwilling to proceed with the sacrifice until the white 
men had gone; the latter had no desire to remain, and consequently re- 
turned to their boat. Naukum afterwards said the old man again post- 
poned his execution out of deference to the wishes of his grandson, but 
Mr. Bush thought the tribe wished to defer it till after the ships had left 
the bay. 

From where they landed our friends walked back a hundred yards or 
so to the crest of a ridge, where the natives had their summer residence. 
The group that had surrounded them walked with them and kept up a 
continual chattering and laughter, not at all in accordance with the solem- 
nity of many savage tribes. Dr. Tonner explained to the youths that the 
Chuckchees are generally friendly with the whites, but sometimes they 
have trouble with whalers and other traders, growing out of disputes in 
commercial transactions. As far as can be ascertained, the fault is quite 
as much that of the white men as of the nativeSj and generally a good deal 
more so. 

The natives have been demoralized by the whalers, who sell them 
ardent spirits in exchange for furs, whalebone, walrus - ivory, and other 
commodities. The use of fire-water leads to trouble, and it is a great pity 
that it cannot be suppressed altogether. Apropos of this subject, a good 



A WONDERFUL DKINK. 91 



ijp 



SCENERY NEAR EAST CAPE. 



story is told by the officers of the expedition that was in North-eastern 
Siberia in 1865-66, endeavoring to bnild a telegraph line from Europe to 
America by way of Asia. 

One party was landed near Behring Strait, and another at Ghijiga, 
near the head of the bay of that name, and on the northern shore of the 
Okhotsk Sea. During the winter the natives brought a report to Ghijiga 
that there was a party of white men near Behring Sea who burned black 
stones in a box, and had the most wonderful whiskey ever known. 

The party at Ghijiga joined the other towards the end of winter, and 
through all the journey across North-eastern Siberia the principal news 
that came to them was the astonishment of the natives at the wonderful 
whiskey in the possession of the white men. Nothing of the kind had ever 
been seen before ; the liquid which the whalers sold was of no consequence 
whatever in comparison with the new sort. 

The sequel was interesting. It turned out that when the party landed 
the natives began at once to beg for whiskey. Their demand was refused, 
and they were told the white men had not brought any of the vile stuff. 
To refute this assertion the natives pointed to several barrels that had been 
piled in the camp, and were known to be full of liquid of some kind or 
other. To put an end to their demands, some of it was given to them. 



92 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

The natives drank and were delighted ; they had heard of the white 
man's beverage called fire-water, but never before had they found the 
genuine article. Certainly this was the fire-water they had heard of; 
there could be no doubt of its character, as it burned and blistered their 
throats, and a little of it went a great way. This whiskey, that became so 
famous through the land, was nothing more than very strong pepper-sauce, 
which was intended for the preservation of meat. 

Dr. Tonner told the youths there was a curious custom among the 
Chuckchees which was not likely to be adopted in America or England — 
certainly not in a hurry. He had been told that when a Chuckchee trader, 
on a voyage to or from the Diomede Islands, or elsewhere, was caught' in a 
storm and found it necessary to lighten his boat, he proceeded to throw 
overboard the crew instead of the cargo. Goods are valuable, and cannot 
be dropped into the sea without loss, but men are abundant, and a fresh 
crew can be engaged at any time. The Doctor further stated that his 
informant said the men made no objection to this novel process of salvage, 
but went over the side of the boat when ordered, under the full conviction 
that they were simply discharging their duty to their employer.* 

At the edge of the village several men were at work on the erection of 
a house, and of course George and Fred stopped to have a look at them. 
Though the men were interesting, the house was a great deal more so, as 
it was of a material entirely new to the young travellers. 

"Yon remember I told you how valuable the whale is to the Chuck- 
chees," said the Doctor. " This house illustrates what I was saying." 

The frame of the house was made of ribs of the whale and walrus, and 
a good deal of ingenuity was shown in arranging it. Two or three poles 
of wood that had been brought from Kamchatka, or some region far to 
the south, served to support the ends of the ribs and other bones that 
formed the sides, while the covering of the roof was kept in place by long 
strips of whalebone. One by one the bones were put in their places, and 
then the covering was stretched over it. The latter was like a piece of 
patchwork on an American quilt; it was composed principally of deer- 
skins, but there were a good many sections of walrus hide among them, 
and one or two strips of sail which had been begged or otherwise obtained 
from the whalers that frequent this region. This covering serves its pur- 
pose admirably, though it is apt to let in water in case of a long rain ; it is 
fastened carefully, to prevent its disappearing in the poorgas, or high winds, 
that prevail in these northern latitudes. 

* This story was told in all seriousness to the writer of this volume by Governor Bilzukaviteh, 
at Ghijiga, in 1866, and was confirmed by another Russian official present at the interview. 



VALUE OF THE REINDEER. 



93 



Dr. Toimer said the Chuckchee house was not a comfortable one for 
a European, but it met fully all the desires of the natives. On the score 
of ventilation there was much to be desired, as there was no chimney, and 
the best exit for the smoke was through a hole in the roof. Sometimes 
it is necessary to close even this hole, on account of the weather, and then 
the smoke has a hard time in getting out. The natives live, without ap- 
parent inconvenience, in an atmosphere that would stifle a civilized being 
in half an hour. 







ERECTING A CHUCKCHEE SUMMER-HOUSE. 



A short distance back of the village a herd of reindeer was grazing, 
and after a glance at the house our friends went in their direction. They 
were scattered over a considerable area, under the watchful eyes of several 
natives who kept them from straying. 

Nearly all were standing, and while some continued to pluck the moss 
and other vegetation from the ground, others raised their heads and gave 
an inquiring look at the strangers. One old deer, with a magnificent pair 
of antlers, was lying on the ground in the front of the group, and retained 
his position with an air of content and independence. 

" The reindeer is even more important to these people than the whale," 
said the Doctor, " at least to the majority of them. The whale can only 
be taken in summer, but the reindeer is with them through the whole 
year; his skin supplies the material for clothing, and for the coverings 
of the tents, his flesh is an important article of food, his bones form the 
handles of knives and the heads of lances, his sinews are an excellent 



94 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

substitute for thread, and his antlers are used for the runners and frame- 
work of the sledges. 

"Deer are the circulating medium of the country, and values are 
reckoned in them ; a man with a hundred deer is in comfortable circum- 
stances, one with five hundred is ' well to do,' and one with a thousand 
looks complacently on the future. When we go beyond a thousand we 
are among the nabobs or millionaires, though the latter are not fairly 
reached till we pass ten thousand. The wealthiest native of JSTorth-west- 
ern Siberia is the owner of forty thousand deer; he is regarded as a 
Vanderbilt or an Astor by his neighbors, and takes quite as much pleas- 
ure in life as do the heads of the families I have just named." 

" What an enormous herd of deer !" said one of the youths. " Forty 
thousand together ! I should like to see them." ■ 

" It is doubtful if yon ever have the opportunity," replied Dr. Tonner, 
"and I hardly believe the owner has ever seen them together. Where 
a man has a very great number of deer he divides them into herds of a 
thousand or twelve hundred each, and then scatters them over a large 
area of country. He is obliged to do this in order to find pasturage for 
them ; if they were all assembled in a single drove it would be very diffi- 
cult to support them." 

George asked what was the food of the reindeer. The Doctor replied 
that the animal fed in summer on the scanty grass and shrubs that grow 
in the valleys of the streams, and in the portions of the tundras or plains 
that are least exposed ; in winter he lives altogether on moss, which he 
searches for beneath the snow, and displays a wonderful instinct in finding 
it. Nature has adapted his nose to turning the snow in search of food, 
and when he digs for moss he rarely fails to get it. 

George wanted to mount one of the deer and take a ride. The Doc- 
tor explained his wishes as well as he could to the natives in charge of 
the herd, and one of them ran off to his tent and brought a saddle, and 
also a long staff like a stout broom-handle. 

The saddle was placed across the back of one of the animals, just be- 
hind his shoulders; it was a pad like an ordinary racing saddle, but very 
roughly made and without stirrups. George thought the man had for- 
gotten the stirrups, and motioned for him to go back for them, but the 
Doctor explained that they were not used in riding the reindeer. 

Both the youths shook their heads at the prospect of being mounted 
in this fashion. While they hesitated, the native took the staff in one 
hand to support himself and then swung into the saddle ; the instant he 
was seated the animal started off for a graceful circuit of a hundred yards 



THE CURRENCY OF THE CHUCKCHEES. 



95 




96 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

or so, and then came back to the starting-point. The native dismounted, 
and George endeavored to imitate his movements. 

He supported himself with the staff, as he had seen the native do, and 
then vaulted into the saddle ; the result was that he went over, and fell 
on the other side, more to Fred's amusement than his own. He repeated 
the effort with no better success, and as Fred continued to laugh at his 
misfortunes, George resigned in the latter's favor. 

Fred did exactly what George had done, and then the laugh was the 
other way. Then the native assisted him for a few moments, and as soon 
as the youth could find his balance he got along very well. Dr. Tonner 
explained that nearly every novice in mounting a deer goes over to' the 
other side, and for the first day or so he spends most of his time in falling 
off. The back of the deer is very weak, and consequently the weight of 
rider or other burden must be placed over the shoulders; a weight of 
fifty pounds, placed as a horse is loaded, would permanently disable a 
strong reindeer. 

The shoulders of the deer slide against each other as the animal walks, 
and this makes the pad sway from one side to the other at every step. 
As the rider has no stirrups he must keep his balance or run the risk of 
falling off, and to prevent this he uses the polka or staff. Many persons 
on beginning their experience with reindeer use two of these polkas, one 
on each side, but even with this protection they get a good many falls. 
The polka has a bag or net of deer thongs at the lower end to keep it 
from sinking too deep in the snow ; the foot of the deer spreads out as he 
steps on snow or on marshy soil, and is evidently admirably adapted to 
its purpose. A horse would not be able to walk at all where a reindeer 
can proceed with ease. 

A very little riding of the sort we have described was enough for our 
young friends, and the inspection of the herd of deer did not require a 
long time. On the way back to the landing-place the Doctor described 
the sledges used in winter in North-eastern Siberia. He said they were 
similar to the dog-sledges, there being some for light travel, and others 
for transporting freight. The deer were harnessed with straps or belts 
around their necks, and to these straps leather thongs were attached that 
extended back to the sledge. The animals were generally driven in pairs, 
and as each had a separate harness, the one that went slowest was in 
danger of having the sledge drao-o-ed on his heels. 

The reins are fastened to the horns of the beasts, and the whip con- 
sists of a long stick or rod with which the animals can be enlivened when 
they grow weary. The sledge is made so that its body is at least a foot 



SPEED OF THE EEINDEER. 



97 



above the snow, and the greatest care is taken to have the runners slide 
as easily as possible. They are usually made of the antlers of deer, or of 
bones of the whale, and polished so that they shine like ivory. Where 
strips of ash timber can be obtained they are preferred, on account of 
their elasticity which renders them less liable to be broken than bone. 

Ordinarily the pace of the reindeer is not rapid, but the animals for 
the travelling sledges are trained to move with a speed which justifies the 
reputation they have received in story-books. Instances are on record of 
reindeer having gone at the rate of nineteen miles an hour for three or 
four hours, and a single pair has been driven one hundred and fifty miles 
in twenty hours. On such occasions they take a steady trot at starting, 
and if the roads are good they rarely break from it until they have gone 
a dozen or twenty miles. In many parts of Siberia they are preferred to 
dogs, as they find their own food ; but on the other hand the traveller 
must follow a route where food is known to exist, or his team will break 
down. When reindeer are wearied they stop, and refuse to move until 
rested ; if urged to go on they lie down, and no whipping in the power of 
man to administer can induce them to rise and proceed. 




A REINDEER SLED. 

7 



98 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER VII. 

CHUCKCHEES AND KORAKS.— INTERNATIONAL FESTIVITIES. 

COMMANDER BRONSON found the captain of the Gambetta ready 
to receive him, and talk over the plans of their expeditions. Both 
had the same purpose — to get as near as possible to the pole. 

All the latest maps of the polar regions were spread on the table in the 
cabin, and the two explorers sat for some time in consultation over them. 
Commander Bronson pointed to the discoveries of Wrangell and Anjou in 
the early part of the century, and to those of De Long and others in recent 
times. 

" Wrangell was stopped at latitude 72° 2' north," said he, " not by ice, 
but by open water. He had travelled to that point on sledges, and had no 
boats with which he could proceed. Since his time the land which he 
endeavored to reach has been visited, and found to be a large island, to 
which his name has been given. The natives of the Siberian coast had 
been there before him, but of course their stories concerning it could not 
be relied upon." 

" It was almost directly north of Wrangell Island," said Captain Girard, 
of the Gambetta, " that De Long was beset in the ice on the 4th of Sep- 
tember, 1879. From that point he drifted, helplessly, till his ship was 
crushed and sunk nearly two years later. He went five degrees nearer to 
the pole than Wrangell had been able to get, and found solid ice where 
the Russian discovered open water." 

" The drift of the Jeannette" replied Commander Bronson, " shows 
that the current, at that time at least, was setting northward and westward. 
Now it is my intention to seek a more easterly direction, by keeping nearer 
to the American coast. From this point where we are now anchored I 
shall keep as close as I can to the 170th meridian of longitude until I have 
crossed the 70th parallel. We may then expect to encounter the ice, but 
we shall hope for the best, and keep a sharp watch for lanes of open water 
to carry us towards the pole." 

Captain Girard said the route was so near what he had planned for his 



AN EXCHANGE OF POLITENESS. 



99 



own, that he would be pleased to have the ships proceed in company. 
They could doubtless be of mutual assistance in the ice, and if an accident 
occurred to one of them she could be aided by the other, and perhaps her 
crew relieved from danger. " Of course," he added, " we understand that 
each of us is at liberty to make the best of his way where the condition of 
the seas will permit. All new discoveries shall belong to the one who 
makes them. If we find an island not laid clown on the charts, it shall be 
named by the man that first sets foot upon it; and if neither ship is able to 
send anybody to it, the discovery shall belong to the first who saw the 
land and announced it by signal to the other." 




BARON VON WRANGELL. 



Commander Bronson agreed to this proposal, and said he should try to 
put the flag of his country in advance of the banner of the French. Cap- 
tain Girard smilingly replied that the tri-color would be first at the pole, 
and with these good-natured expressions of patriotism the interview came 
to an end. Commander Bronson invited Captain Girard to dinner on 
board the Vivian/ the invitation w r as promptly accepted, and the com- 
mander hastened back to his ship to give the necessary orders, and to re- 
call the Doctor and our young friends from their trip on shore. 



100 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

Soon after the signal was hoisted the boat came dancing over the 
waves, and the Doctor and his companions went to their cabins to dress for 
dinner. The cook was instructed to do his best, as the occasion was a mo- 
mentous one : none of the party had ever entertained guests at dinner in 
the Arctic Ocean, and as they could not determine what the etiquette of 
the country was, they agreed to stick to that of the civilized world. 

The French captain came at the appointed time, wearing the full uni- 
form of his rank. He was accompanied by the surgeon of his ship, who 
had also been invited to the festivity; very cordial was the greeting be- 
tween the latter and Dr. Tonner, as they had discovered in Kamchatka 
that they were students together in Paris, and had met frequently while 
promenading the hospitals. The French surgeon spoke very little English, 
while the American doctor was decidedly rusty in the language of Paris; 
there was a good deal of blundering in their conversation, and occasion- 
ally each managed to misunderstand completely what the other said. 
However, they managed to get along, and the meeting was a real pleasure 
to both. Their comparison of notes was interesting, as they found they 
had been doing the same things in different parts of the world. While 
Dr. Tonner was in the service of the American Army in Arizona and New 
Mexico his fellow-student had been in similar employment in Algeria; in 
the same year that the former had started in private practice in San Fran- 
cisco the latter had set up for himself in Marseilles, and almost in the 
same week that the American went from San Francisco to reside in New 
York the Frenchman emigrated from Marseilles to Paris. 

u Les extremes se touehent" remarked the surgeon of the Gamhetta 
when their comparison of notes was ended. 

"Yes," was the reply, "extremes meet, and perhaps we shall continue 
on the same lines for the future. We may follow different roads and both 
reach the pole." 

The eyes of the Frenchman sparkled at the suggestion. He began to 
say something, and suddenly checked himself; then he made a remark 
about the hazards of a journey in the arctic regions, and closed with the 
suggestion that he certainly hoped to reach the North-pole. 

Then he wanted to make a wager that the French flag w T onld be the 
first to float over the pole, and warming with excitement he next proposed 
to double his wager and make it on behalf of his own ship. 

Dr. Tonner grew interested, and asked why he was so confident of suc- 
cess where all before had failed. 

"Nous verrons" was the reply; "or, as you says in Eengleesh, ' we 
shall see.' " 



OLD AND NEW METHODS COxMPARED. 



101 



Then the conversation changed to other topics, and was interrupted by 
the announcement that dinner was ready. In a few minutes entertainers 
and guests were in their places, and the party did ample justice to the 
products of the skill of the cook. The guests were loud in their praises of 
the number and quality of the dishes, and paid a high compliment to the 
skill of the Americans in preserving fresh meat and vegetables. 

"You have carried the science of 'canning' to a higher degree than 
any other country," said Captain Girard, " and have made long voyages 
comparatively easy, so far as the health of the men is concerned." 




LOCKED IN THE ICE. 



"But we have taken lessons from your nation in the science of cook- 
ery," was the polite response of the American commander ; " and without 
good cooking our efforts in the preserving line would be of comparatively 
little use. The first must be perfect, or the second will fail." 

"For a comparison between the new way and the old," replied Captain 
Girard, " let us take the voyage of the Jea7inette and place it by the side 
of almost any long voyage of half a century ago. In old times nearly 
every crew imprisoned for a single winter in the ice was disabled by 
scurvy ; the Jeannette passed two winters among the bergs and floes, and 
after the sinking of the ship her crew was three months on the ice before 
reaching Siberia, but they were in good condition when the vessel sank, 
and even when they landed at the mouth of the Lena. They were weak- 
ened by hardship and exposure, it is true, but they suffered almost nothing 
from the diseases formerly inseparable from an arctic voyage." 

Commander Bronson then told about the arrangements for the distri- 
bution of lime-juice to his men when unable to procure fresh provisions, 



102 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

and gave other details of their preparation for the voyage. His guest re- 
plied by detailing whatever was new in the mode of outfitting the Gam- 
betta, and by the end of dinner a good deal of information had been 
exchanged. 

The party sat for some time after the dinner had been completed, and 
finally the hour came for the guests to return to their ship. The. crew of 
Captain Girard's boat had been entertained by the sailors of the Vivian, 
and a spectator of the affair would have had an amusing story to tell. 
One man of the Vivian's crew could speak a little French, but only a 
little, while not a man from the Gambettds boat knew a word of English. 
Conversation was carried on in pantomime for a while, but this could' not 
last long ; then the boatswain of the Vivian suggested a song and dance, 
and the idea was immediately carried out. 

Among the Vivian's men there were three musicians: one played the 
violin, the second the flute, and the third had a high rank on the accor- 
dion. A quartette had been formed by adding a drummer, and on the 
voyage up from San Francisco a drum was manufactured by the carpenter 
which served its purpose very fairly. The violinist, known as " Fiddler 
Jack," had been chosen leader of the band, and a good deal of his watch 
below was devoted to the training of the musicians under his control. 
Their knowledge of what the professors call technique was very limited, 
but they made up for it in the vigor of their execution. Nearly all the 
crew could sing after the nautical fashion, and altogether the Vivian was 
well equipped for a season of arctic opera. 

Jack mustered his band, and several American airs w T ere played, ac- 
companied with variations which are not found in the scores of fashionable 
performers. Then the crew sang "Hail Columbia" and "The Star-span- 
gled Banner," followed by "The Old Folks at Home" and " Nancy Lee." 
All these songs w T ere assisted by the band, the drum included. Fiddler 
Jack suggested in a mild way that the drum had no business in "The Old 
Folks at Home," though it might be all right for the rest. 

One of the French sailors then hummed "The Marseillaise," in the 
hope that Fiddler Jack could play it, but the latter shook his head and 
said he was not up to foreign music anyhow. The drummer thought he 
might be able to beat the time on his drum, but the Frenchmen concluded 
that no instrumentation was needed, and sang "The Marseillaise" without 
assistance. 

One of them gave the solo, and the rest joined in the chorus with a zest 
that showed they were no strangers to the song. The boatswain of the 
Vivian said it was lucky there was no more of the frog -eaters, or they 



AN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVITY. 103 

would raise the ship's deck and start all the timbers down to the water- 
line. This song was followed by a love ditty or two, and then by a nau- 
tical air corresponding to "Tom Bowline" or "Nancy Dawson." Then 
came a dance, in which the Yankees gave their French visitors a sample 
of the "double shuffle " and other dances peculiar to America, to which 
the latter responded by an "All Hands Round" and some lofty kicking 
which threatened the safety of the deck more than did the singing. 

When this was over Jack tuned his violin and sounded some of the 
notes of " Pinafore." This brought one of the Frenchmen to his feet and 
led to a discovery ! 

Though the crews of the two ships had no language in common, and 
their national airs were unlike, they had a mutual acquaintance through 
the music of this operetta, which had gone out from England and invaded 
both France and America. Its nautical character had caused it to be 
received with favor by the sailors of both nations, and a little investigation 
showed that the crews of the Vivian and Gambetta were equally "up" in 
their knowledge of it. 

Jack and his attendant performers (the drum included) essayed the 
music of the sailors' chorus in "Pinafore," and when the air had been 
played through to the satisfaction of all concerned he announced, " Now 
we'll sing." 

" Chantons ! chantons /" shouted the French'men in unison, and the 
sailors of two nationalities joined in the performance with such energy 
of action and volume of sound that the boatswain declared you couldn't 
tell which was which. 

While the Americans roared out, in fair time with the instruments, 

" For he's the captain of the Viv-i-AX, 
And a right good captain too," 

the Frenchmen were equally earnest in proclaiming, 

" Car il est capitaine du Gam-bet-ta, 
Et tres bon capitaine lui." 

Just as they had finished the song, and were wiping the perspiration 
from their foreheads, there was a call from the deck for the Gambetta 's 
crew, and with hand-shakes and embraces between those who had had a 
good time in spite of their lingual difficulties, the evening's entertainment 
came to an end. In a few minutes the visitors had gone, and the Vivian 
resumed her wonted quiet. 

The next day most of the officers of both ships were on shore, and the 
little village of Chuckchees had quite a foreign aspect. Reindeer meat 



104 



THE VOYAGE OF THE " VIVIAN.' 



was purchased in considerable quantities, and the crews of the Vivian and 
Gambetta were treated to Siberian venison with great liberality. The 
Chuckchees almost uniformly refuse to sell live deer, on account of 
a belief that they will bring misfortune on themselves by so doing, but 
they have no objection to slaughtering the animals and selling the meat. 

i 




A SUMMER VILLAGE I-N THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



The purchases were paid for with beads, tobacco, hatchets, knives, and 
kindred things ; rum was asked for, but refused in every instance, and the 
orders of both the French and American commanders were strictly obeyed, 
to give no opportunity for trouble. In bartering with the natives the cost 
of a deer was not more than fifty cents ; and as the animals weighed from 
eighty to a hundred pounds when dressed, the strangers had no occasion 
to complain, while the natives seemed perfectly satisfied. George remarked 
that deer at that price could not be considered dear; he was informed that 
the joke had been made by every English -speaking visitor to that region 
for the last hundred years. 

Commander Bronson's first inquiry was for a village where he could 
purchase dogs for sledging purposes ; both he and Captain Girard had in- 



CHUCKCHEE AND KOEAK VILLAGES. 



105 



tended to buy dogs in Petropavlovsk, but had been advised not to take 
them from that place, as they could be procured in the vicinity of East 
Cape or Cape Szerdze Kamen. The Chuckchees formerly had no dogs, 
but a few years previous to the date of which we are speaking they made 
a friendly arrangement with the Koraks by which the latter had a settle- 
ment in the Chuckchee country on payment of a tribute to the owners of 
the land. 14 The Koraks had an abundance of dogs, while the Chuckchees 
possessed thousands of reindeer : there was a Korak village close to a Chuck- 
chee one, and at these villages it was possible to purchase dogs for arctic 
travel, and plenty of meat on which to feed them. 

The villages were about ten miles from where the ships were anchored, 
and a guide was easily procured to lead the way to them. Major Clapp 
and one of the French officers set out at once, accompanied by Fred and 
a youth of about his age from the Gambetta. They were mounted on rein- 
deer from the herd our friends had visited the day before, and Fred esti- 
mated that they made not less than half a dozen tumbles to the mile for 
the first half of the journey. On arriving at the villages they began nego- 
tiations for dogs, assisted by their guide, who could speak enough English 
to make himself understood in conducting; a bargain. 

It is easier to begin to talk business with these people than to finish 
it. There was a vexatious delay in bringing them to terms, and the 
major found that his "hope of return- 
ing to the ships the same day was not 
to be realized. They were invited to 
partake of the native hospitality, but 
the interior of the Korak tents was so 
uninviting that they retreated outside 
in a very short time, and concluded 
to sleep in the open air. Through the 
exertions of the guide a temporary 
tent was erected, and beds of deer and 
bear skins were provided. The stran- 
gers shunned the stewpots of the na- 
tives, and supped on steaks of deer- 
meat cooked over the fire by themselves. 
Fortunately they had a good supply of biscuits and tea from the ships. 

But if the Korak tent in summer was unendurable by the strangers, 
what would they have thought of the yourt, or winter residence of these 
people? While Fred was relating his experience. on his return to the ship, 
Dr. Tonner proceeded to enlighten him further on the subject. 




> =?65 ' f AY - 




A PORTRAIT. 



106 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




A KOKAK BEAU. 



" I spent a winter in Siberia, as you know," said the Doctor, " and a 
part of my experience was to travel among the Koraks. It used to give me 
a shudder to think of entering a yourt, but there was often no help for it, 
and I had to go in and do my best. These buildings are of logs or poles, 
banked around with earth, and made flat or tunnel-shaped on top. They 
are half sunk in the ground, so that it is no great effort to reach the roof 

from the outside. A hole in the 
centre of the roof serves as a chim- 
ney and door, and a pole, notched 
like a fence-post, forms a ladder. 

" You descend directly over the 
fire, shutting your eyes and trusting 
to luck. The heat and smoke are 
blinding and stifling, so that you are 
very apt to lose your way. When 
you think you are near the floor 
yon jump from the ladder; you 
should try to jump away from the 
fire, but sometimes you go straight 
into it, or possibly into the kettle in 
which the dinner is stewing. The 
smoke has no exit except through the hole mentioned, and the interior of 
the yourt is dimly lighted by some oil burning in a basin. The dogs hang 
about the hole above you, attracted by the heat and the smell of food ; 
they are constantly quarrelling, and every little while one of them drops 
through and tumbles into the fire or the dinner-kettle. In either event 
he is flung outside, but the dinner is not spoiled by his intrusion. As the 
Koraks cook the whole of a reindeer except the hide and horns, they are 
not at all troubled by the presence of a few handfuls of dog's hair in 
their soup." 

Bargaining went on very well on the second day, and forty dogs were 
procured for each ship, together with sledges and harness. Four drivers 
were also engaged, two for each ship, and the party returned in high 
spirits. It was not considered safe to come back without the dogs, for 
fear the natives might interpose, therefore the animals and their driv- 
ers headed the procession on its return to the landing-place. The whole 
party was immediately taken on board, and the major and Fred were con- 
gratulated on the success of their enterprise. 

The rest of the officers had not been idle ; they had purchased all the 
fur clothino; the Chuckchees would sell, and all dressed deer -skins the 



PURCHASING FURS AND FUR GARMENTS. 



107 



market afforded. These would be made up by the sailors on board the 
ships after leaving the coast, and with the native garments as models they 
would have no difficulty in performing the work. At Petropavlovsk they 
bought a supply of kuklankers, together with fur boots and trousers, but 
as the French officers and sailors had been there ahead of them, they did 
not get all they wanted. The hxiklanker is a sort of frock with a hood, 
and has to be put on over the head, like the ordinary shirt of civilized life. 
In warm weather the hood hangs over the shoulders, but in the intense 
cold of an arctic winter it is drawn over the head, and forms an admi- 
rable protection. The best quality of this garment is made of deer-skin, 
with the hair outside, and has a lining of the skins of very young deer 
or some cheap fur. Trousers of the same material, with deer-skin boots, 
complete the costume for the far North. 

They were also fortunate in finding a supply of dried fish for dog's- 
food on sledge journeys; it was- carefully stowed away where the animals 
could not reach it, and for the present they were fed on deer-meat. As 
soon as the dogs were quartered on board, it was evident that the ship 
would be far less peaceful than before their arrival. The brutes had the 
run of the deck, and were constantly fighting ; George said they were 
never at peace unless they were hav- 
ing a quarrel, and the only way to 
keep them quiet was to let them fight 
whenever they wished. In the night 
they howled almost constantly, and it 
was not easy to sleep, on account of 
their noise. Luckily, they did not hurt 
each other much in their fights, and 
their drivers had plenty of occupation 
in beating them whenever they de- 
served punishment. 

Two sledges were bought from the 
natives, and also a complete outfit of 
harness for the dogs. Then there were 
three sledges which had been made in 

San Francisco from the arctic models ; but, with all the skill of the 
American carpenter who constructed them, they were nearly twice a,s 
heavy as the sledges of the Koraks. The drivers, Alexy and Petroff, were 
not favorably inclined to the American sledges, and before the ship sailed 
they obtained the necessary materials from their people on shore, and of- 
fered to construct sledo-es on their own models. 




A KORAK BELLE. 



108 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



In a couple of days after the return from the purchase of the dogs 
the ships were ready to sail in search of the pole. As before arranged, it 
was understood that they were to keep in company as long as possible and 




A BALL ON SHIPBOARD. 



convenient, but each was at liberty to seek its own course, and sa,y "good- 
bye " whenever it chose to do so. The evening before their departure was 
marked by an event of considerable interest to our young heroes. 

Captain Girard returned the compliment of Commander Bronson by 
inviting him to dine on board the Gambetta, accompanied by Major Clapp 

and Dr. Tonner, and also by Fred and 
George. The crew of the Gamhetta had 
obtained permission to get up an interna- 
tional ball, to which the crew of the Vivian 
was invited, and also some of the Chuck- 
chees from the village on shore. The 
French sailors decked their ship with all 
the flags they possessed, and so many of 
them dressed in fancy costume that the 
affair took the form of a masked ball instead of a plain one. As there 
were no ladies on board either ship, and the native belles were not accus- 




U ALL HANDS ROUND.' 



A DANCE ON THE "GAMBETTA." 



109 




tonied to European dances, several of the French 
sailors got themselves up in feminine dress, and 
played their parts admirably. 

A spectator at the dance would have been easi- 
ly deceived by several of the couples and quar- 
tettes as they balanced to each other, keeping time 
to the music of the violins in the hands of the per- 
formers, who were on a platform of boards placed 
over a couple of barrels. The disguise was excel- 
lent, and would have done credit to actors made „„ , „„ ¥ „ 

BALANCK 

up for the stage. One of the young sailors was 

dressed as a flower-girl, and went around pre- 
tending to sell bouquets made from moss and 
shrubs among which artificial flowers were deft- 
ly woven. Closely following the flower-girl was 
a cook with a basket on her arm, and her head 
neatly covered with the cap which is the badge 
of her occupation at home. Then came a stout 
old sailor disguised as a fish-woman, and another 
who pretended to be a peddler of cakes and 
sweetmeats. Occasionally these perambulating 
characters laid aside their baskets and other im- 
pedimenta to join in the dance, which was as 
lively as the music w r ould permit. Some of the 
dances were arranged for the accommodation of 
the visitors, and at such times the Americans did 
their best to make a name for their country. 

Fiddler Jack was there with his band, and sup- 
plied the music for the performance whenever it 
was desired to relieve the French violinists. Con- 
sequently there was. no lack of entertainment for 
the Americans, and though they did not become as 
excited as their hosts in the execution of the fig- 
ures, they managed to work themselves into a con- 
dition of great warmth. 

The dinner in the cabin was over while the ball 
was under way, and the gentlemen went on deck 
to enjoy it. Jack's band happened to be playing 

when they appeared, and at once the music was shifted to the strains of 
" Pinafore :" the sailors of both ships took the hint, and at once the song 




FLOWER-GIRL. 




FISH-WOMAN. 



110 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



was picked up, and echoed far over the waters of the Arctic Ocean, and 
along the desolate shore of North-eastern Siberia : 

"For he's the captain of the Viv-i-an, 
Car il est capitai?te du Gam-bet-ta, 
And a very good captain, too. 
El tres bon capitaine, lui." 

At ten o'clock the ball came to an end, and the officers, and crew of the 
Vivian returned to their ship. The sun was still above the horizon, and 
consequently many of the attendants at the ball were unwilling to close 
the performance. George suggested that it was not a good place for sing- 
ing the popular air " We won't go Home till Morning," since the move- 
ments of the sun would compel them to keep up a month or two, to com- 
ply with the suggestion of the chorus. Candles were of little use in such 
a latitude, and nobody was inclined to look forward to the arctic winter, 
when darkness would be as continuous as was then the daylight. 




STOEIES OF THE WHALERS. 



Ill 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM SIBERIA TO WRANGELL ISLAND.— ICEBERGS AND A BEAR -HUNT. 

AT the appointed time the two exploring ships sailed from the coast 
and headed to the north. A few hours before their departure a 
whaler came to anchor near their moorings; Commander Bronson sent 
Captain Jones, accompanied by Fred and George, to ascertain if there 
was any news of importance. 

The whaler reported ice in small patches to the north and east, and 
said another whaler had told him there was an extensive barrier of ice 
between the coast of Siberia and Wrangell Island. There were several 
whalers at work there, and they had met with very good luck. Two of 
them were nearly full, and would complete their cargoes before the end 
of summer, when they would sail 
directly for the Sandwich Islands 
or San Francisco. One whaler had 
lost a boat in a battle with a whale, 
but the crew was saved, so that the 
accident was of little consequence. 
Another whaler had been nipped in 
the ice, and got off without much 
damage ; on the whole the season's 
work was satisfactory, and the whal- « 
ers were happy. 

" I hope they'll get out of the 
Arctic Ocean before the ice comes 
down," said Captain Jones, as the 
boat was returning to the Vivian. 

" Every few years some of them get caught by the ice before they pass 
the capes, and when it comes down with full force it crushes them like 
egg-shells. In 1871 thirty-three whaling ships, almost in sight of each 
other, were caught, and crushed between the ice and the shore; the wind 
was against them, and the ice drifted faster than they could work ahead." 





A GOTHIC ICEBKKG. 



112 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

One of the youths asked how it happened that so many of them were 
enclosed at once. 

"They were chasing a large school of whales," was the reply, "and 
went farther than it was safe to go. Finding the ice was closing on them, 
and that a part of the fleet would certainly be lost, the captains decided to 
abandon the ships that were in the most dangerous positions, and go on 
board those which had the best chance of escaping. A few had already 
been crushed between the ice and the shore before this decision was made, 
but happily no lives were lost. Some of the ships were nearly full of oil, 
and the loss of property was estimated at a million and a half of dollars." 

"The whalers have had a hard time in this part of the world," said 
one of the youths. " I was reading yesterday how the rebel steamer 
Shenandoah came here during the civil war and burned all the whale- 
ships she could find." 

"You are not exactly right on that point," replied the captain. "The 
Shenandoah came to the Arctic Ocean in 1865, at the close of the rebel- 
lion, and destroyed all the whaling ships she could find ; I was here at the 
time, and my ship barely escaped destruction. I left Plover Bay one 
night, and sailed out into Behring Sea, and the next day the Shenandoah 
came in and burned ten whalers. All the captains knew that the war 
was over, and showed newspapers and letters to confirm their assertion 
to the captain of the Shenandoah, but he refused to believe them. Al- 
together he destroyed thirty whale -ships. The captain of an English 
whaler, the Robert Taw?is, warned some of the Americans of their dan- 
ger, and enabled them to escape, and was consequently threatened by the 
Shenandoah. 

" It's an old story now," he continued, " but every whaleman feels a 
grudge against Waddell, the captain of the Shenandoah, and will hold it 
as long as he lives. As the Shenandoah was an English ship, fitted out in 
Liverpool, and well known to be bound on a piratical enterprise, we don't 
feel very kindly towards England in consequence; especially so when she 
was allowed to recruit a crew openly in Melbourne, and received facil- 
ities in that and other ports which were denied to United States ships. 
But here we are at the Vivian's side, and in half an hour we'll be on our 
way to sea." 

The ships went under sail, and did not even light their fires to get 
away from land. The wind was blowing off the shore, and the breeze was 
fair towards the north. 

The course was laid for Herald Island, in latitude 72° north, longitude 
175° west. The youths supposed it had been named after the New York 



THE CHARACTER OF POLAR ICE. 113 

Herald., but learned, on reference to the books, that it was discovered and 
named by Captain Kellett, of the British ship Herald, in 1849. Other 
navigators claimed to have seen it before Captain Kellett, but the latter 
was the first to land on its shores. 

The day after leaving the coast Captain Jones ordered the crow's-nest 
to be rigged on the foremast. Fred and George watched the operation 
with a good deal of interest, as they had already seen the crow's-nest 
on some of the wmalers, but had been too busy to investigate its con- 
struction. 

Captain Jones told them that the crow's-nest was an invention of Cap- 
tain Scores by, or at all events he had the credit of it. Ordinarily a man. 
is stationed aloft to watch for whales, and as the air is very cold he is apt 
to become benumbed, and runs the risk of falling off. To protect him from 
danger and from the cold a cask is rigged aloft, and in this cask he stands 
when on duty. Its sides shelter him from the wind, and in case he is be- 
numbed he cannot fall to the deck; there is a trap-door in the bottom for 
entering it, but no sailor who respects himself would think of getting in 
that way. He invariably clambers over the side, unless he has been so 
chilled as to partially lose the use of his limbs. 

" The crow's-nest is a point of observation when we are looking for 
whales," said the captain, " and also when we are in the ice. We are not 
going to chase whales now," he continued, " but we must keep a sharp eye 
on the ice to preserve the ship from injury. 

" And now that we are in the region of ice, I may as well tell you 
some of its peculiarities. 

" There are two kinds of ice in the Arctic Ocean— that which comes 
from the rivers, and is made from fresh-water, while the other is formed, 
from the salt-water of the sea. 

"All the rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean bring down large quan- 
tities of ice at their annual floods. This amount of ice would alone be- 
enough to fill up the entire regions within thirty degrees of the pole, in 
the course of a few centuries, if it were not melted by the heat of summer 
or drifted away by the currents. 

'"'The ice brought down by the flowing rivers, such as the Lena, Koly- 
ma, Yenisei, Mackenzie, and others, is in great floes, such as you may see- 
in the rivers of the Northern States of America in the spring of the year. 
But there are other rivers, exactly similar to the glaciers of Switzerland,, 
that bring down masses of ice in the form of bergs. Greenland has great 
numbers of glaciers, and they are the sources of the bergs which float 
south in the Atlantic Ocean, and in May and June lie in the track of the- 

8 



114 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



steamers between America and Europe. If you want to know about them 
in detail I advise you to read 'The Land of Desolation,' by Dr. Hayes." 

The youths promised to do so as soon as their talk was ended, but 
meantime they wanted to know about the ice of the Polar Sea. 




unm mi 



j$h l, 



m 



"v-<m 




- 

■■■■ - - "■ 




VIEW OF ICKISEUGS. 



"Well," continued the captain, "the whalemen have distinct names 
for all the varieties of polar ice. Of course all the salt-water ice is flat, 
as it is formed by freezing the surface of the sea; it never forms a berg, 
and whenever yon see a berg yon may know that the ice is fresh. If the 
salt-water ice spreads over a large area it is called & field, and if it is a 
field broken into smaller expanses, each one of these is called a floe. A 
field or floe broken into smaller pieces, not more than forty or fifty yards 
in diameter, is called a pack, and the fragments composing a pack are 
crowded together by the action of the wind and waves, so that their sur- 
face is often exceedingly difficult to cross. A broad pack is a, patch, and 
a long and narrow pack is a stream / when the pieces of the pack are suf- 
ficiently separated to allow a ship to sail through, it is drift-ice, and is said 
to be loose or open • when it is greatly broken up, it is brush-ice ; and 
when the pieces crowd each other, so as to force some of them to rise 



THE ICE-BLINK. 



115 



higher than the rest, the elevated portions are called hummocks. In heavy 
packs there are often a great many hummocks, and I have seen them not 
less than thirty feet high. They are very pretty to look at, but are the 
dread of all who are obliged to travel among them, as they greatly hinder 
progress, whether on sledges or on foot." 

Fred asked what the ice-blink was, as the captain paused after his de- 
scription of the different kinds of ice. 

"That," replied the captain, " is the name given by the Dutch sailors 
to the singular appearance of the horizon where it is bounded by the ice. 
It is a stratum of lucid whiteness, occasioned by the glare of light reflected 
against the atmosphere from the surface of the ice ; it is generally in the 
form of a shining streak, and always looks brightest in clear weather. An 
experienced navigator knows by the ice-blink when he is approaching ice, 
even when it is twenty or thirty miles beyond the line of direct vision. 
He can even make out the quality of the ice: the blink from the packs 
appears of a pure white, while that from snow-fields has a tinge of yellow. 
Many a ship has been saved from danger by the ice-blink, which warned 
her commander what to do while he had plenty of sea-room before him." 





ON AN ICE-PACK. 



Just then the captain's attention was required in another part of the 
ship, and the interview was abruptly terminated. The youths went below 
to look up the book which Captain Jones had recommended for their 
perusal. 

They learned from it that the glaciers from which the icebergs are 
formed are sometimes several miles in width and hundreds of feet high ; 



116 THE VOYAGE OE THE "VIVIAN." 

they fill many of the valleys running down to the sea, and as their prog- 
ress is slow, it often takes many months for the formation of a single 
berg. Bat so many of the glaciers are at work that the aggregate num- 
ber of bergs annually born and set afloat is very large. 

This is the process : the glacier flows slowly along, its rate varying 
according to the season of the year and the temperature of the atmos- 
phere. Sometimes it may be only an inch or two daily, and at others it 
may advance ten or twelve inches in the same time. As it reaches the 
sea the end is pushed out into the water, and gradually sinks beneath it; 
after a time the buoyancy of the water, lifting on the immense mass of 
ice, causes it to break off and float away. Thus the iceberg is formed. 

Fresh ice floating in sea-water has seven-eighths of its body below the 
surface and one-eighth above ; consequently, before the lifting force of 
the water can be exerted on the end of the glacier, more than seven- 
eighths of it must be forced out beneath the surface of the sea, or of the 
narrow bay where the glacier frequently has its termination. When the 
break occurs the commotion is like that of an earthquake, and the position 
of a ship or boat in front of the glacier is full of danger. Dr. Hayes 
describes an incident of this sort where a party from his ship had gone 
on shore to take photographic views of the glacier and: the mountains 
around it. The ship was anchored in the bay, some distance below the 
glacier, and her captain thought she was in no danger. 

The boat reached the shore without difficulty, and the party proceeded 
to set up their instruments on the rocks, some distance above the landing- 
place. Those on the ship were busy with their ordinary work, or loitering 
around, when they heard some loud reports which indicated the breaking 
off of pieces of the glacier. The fragments fell into the sea; the commo- 
tion the} 7 created caused the ship to roll at her anchor, and waves of con- 
siderable extent broke on the rocks. 

While they were regarding the strange occurrence, and thinking it 
was all over, there was a report louder than all the others, followed by 
the fall of a great mass of ice, at least half a mile long and a quarter of 
a mile in width ; simultaneously another mass, equally large, rose from 
beneath the bay, and then the whole front of the glacier seemed to 
crumble and fall. 

Wonder at the magnificent spectacle was changed to thoughts of the 
peril of the ship ; the waves rolled up with tremendous force, one greater 
than all the rest sweeping from the front of the glacier down the bay in 
the direction of the ship. 

As it passed beneath her she was lifted on its surface and borne to- 



SCENE ON THE GREENLAND COAST. 



117 






I 




118 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

wards the rocks; but fortunately her anchor held, and she swung back to 
her place uninjured. The wave broke on the cliffs above the ship, its 
force being so great that the spectators estimated its height at a hundred 
feet; the top of the wave, as it struck the rocks, curled backward and fell 
on the deck of the ship, which it deluged with water, but not enough to 
sink her. Another wave followed, and then another and another, but each 
was less violent than its predecessor, and after a while the bay resumed 
its wonted quiet. 

The party on shore had quite as narrow an escape as those on the ship. 
They were a short distance from the beach when the wave reached them, 
hut by throwing themselves flat on the rocks, and clinging with all their 
might, they managed to hold on. One of them lost his grasp and was 
thrown several yards by the wave, but though considerably bruised, he 
seized another rock and was saved. They lost all their implements, and 
if they had been on the beach when the wave swept down the bay, it is 
probable that not one would have escaped. 

3 .r/r^r^ 71 " 1 "" 




VERTICAL SECTION OF A GLACIER. 



Bergs are sometimes seen two or three miles long and several hundred 
feet high floating in the Atlantic; remember that only one-eighth of their 
mass is visible, and then think how enormous must be the quantity con- 
cealed below. Frequently several large bergs will be found close together, 
which were evidently from the same glacier and broken off at the same 
time. When the convulsion took place by which they were thrown from 
the front of the glacier it was split asunder, and thus their escape was 
facilitated. In some places where the glaciers come down to the sea, the 
water is too shallow to allow the bergs to float off; they become crowded 
together, and as the heat of the sun is not sufficient to melt them they 
lie for years close to the place of their formation. 

For the present we will drop the consideration of the iceberg, and its 
parent the glacier, and return to our friends on the Vivian. 

Captain Jones did not put his crow's-nest in order any too soon, for not 
more than an hour after it had been completed, the lookout forward re- 
ported fragments of ice dead ahead. In a little while the ship was among 



A MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE. 



119 




120 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

them, but they were neither numerous nor large; beyond indicating what 
might be expected before long, they were of no particular consequence. 
Captain Jones caused a piece to be fished up as they sailed slowly along, 
and on examination he pronounced it pack-ice that had probably drifted 
from the eastward. Orders were given to shorten sail during the night, 
and to keep a sharp lookout lest they might suddenly be brought against 
something more serious than the fragments they had thus far encountered. 

The air was perceptibly colder than the day before, although the wind 
blew from the south, and had not changed its direction a single point since 
their departure from land. The next day the scene was unchanged, with 
the exception that the drift-ice was somewhat more abundant, and the 
lookout thought there was an indication of an ice-blink on the horizon, 
betokening serious work before them. 

Both vessels held their course for Herald Island, and it was agreed 
that if they were separated during the night from any cause, they would 
endeavor to meet at its eastern extremity. There was no special glory in 
landing there, as the island had been several times visited since Captain 
Kellett's exploration, but it contained an arctic post - office, where Com- 
mander Bronson desired to leave letters for future ships. 

The ice increased as the ships advanced, and by the next -morning there 
was " more ice than ocean," as Captain Jones expressed it. On the eastern 
horizon there was an appearance of a solid pack, while to the west only 
loose ice was visible. The signal-flags were set at work between the Gam- 
betta and Vivian, and it was agreed that they would steer to the north- 
west, and probably sight Wrangell Island if the condition of the ice re- 
mained unchanged. At the time this agreement was made they were 
exactly on the 70th parallel of latitude, and Wrangell Island was thought 
to be about one hundred miles away, in a north-westerly' direction. As 
they changed their course the wind died out, and there was not enough 
breeze to fill the sails. 

An hour or so after the signalling was over the man aloft called out, 

" Bear on the ice on the port bow !" 

Of course there was a rush to that side of the ship. Fred ran below 
for his glass, and speedily returned. It did not take long to discover the 
bear, who was sitting on the ice as though wondering how he got there. 
George remarked that the brute was evidently monarch of all he surveyed, 
to which Fred retorted that he couldn't be much of a surveyor, as his do- 
main was not more than a hundred feet from side to side. 

A boat was lowered to go in pursuit of the game; Major Clapp and 
Dr. Tonner formed the hunting party, each armed with a heavy rifle with 



AWAITING HIS PURSUERS. 



121 




THE BEAR AT BAY. 



122 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

which to do effective work on the occupant of the floe. The boat had no 
eas}" task before it, as the sea was prett} 7 well tilled with loose ice, and it 
was highly desirable to avoid coming in violent contact with any of the 
floating cakes. The Doctor acted as ice- pilot, and performed his work 
very well; standing in the bow he directed the course of the boat, keep- 
ing the bear steadily in view, except when he was hidden by hummocks of 
ice. They had about a mile to go in a direct line, but so tortuous was the 
course that it took them a full hour to reach the floe where the bear had 
his summer residence. 

As they drew near, Bruin came close to the edge of his domain, as 
though intending to dispute its possession. The major raised his rifle to 
fire when within a hundred yards, but with a wave of his hand the Doctor 
restrained him. 

" Don't tire as long as he stands there," whispered the Doctor. " The 
closer we can get, the better will be our chance of dropping him." 

The major saw the force of Dr. Tonner's suggestion, and allowed the 
boat to proceed, but he held his rifle ready for action at the first movement 
of the beast. Evidently the bear was not accustomed to the sight of boats, 
and looked upon the new-comer as an inhabitant of the waters whose 
acquaintance he had not yet made. 

He allowed the boat to approach within twenty yards, and then the 
major told the men to stop rowing. As the boat reduced its speed the 
rifle sent a bullet directly into the breast of the bear; he gave a leap back- 
ward and fell heavily on his side, but was up in a few seconds. 

It was now the Doctor's turn, and he was quick to embrace it. The 
major had a front view of the bear when he fired ; as the animal rose, it 
looked as though he intended to seek safety in flight, and present only a 
rear view to the Doctor. But the beast was not devoid of curiosity, and 
this was fatal to him. 

He turned to look at his assailants, and as he did so the Doctor fired as 
closely to the heart as he was able to aim. Instead of the ordinary bullet 
he used an explosive one; as it struck the bear's side, and was fairly em- 
bedded in the flesh, it exploded, tearing a hole large enough for the inser- 
tion of one's hand. By this time the major had a fresh cartridge in his 
Remington rifle, and sent another bullet not more than two or three sec- 
onds behind the Doctor's. Down went the bear. The boat was now at the 
edge of the ice ; one of the men held it with an ice-hook, and the Doctor 
sprang on the floe, closely followed by the major. 

Both thought the bear was dead, but they had learned prudence from 
experience. " Always approach a dead mule by the head," said the Doc- 



EESULT OF A BEAK-HUNT. 123 

tor, " and a dead bear by the side. A dead mule has been known to kick, 
and a dead bear will rise and bite." As they put fresh cartridges in their 
rifles the bear suddenly rose again ; lie was not more than a dozen feet 
from his assailants, and as they were standing opposite his side they had 
an excellent mark. 

The two bullets brought him to the ground again, or rather to the ice, 
and the major said he ought to be killed by this time. An oar was brought 
from the boat, and one of the sailors prodded the recumbent beast with it, 
while the hunters stood ready to shoot in case he stirred. There was no 
movement, and the game was evidently theirs ; but to make assurance 
doubly sure, the Doctor sent a solid bullet through the animal's skull, re- 
marking as he did so, that probably such a thing never entered the bear's 
head before. 

It was a full-grown arctic bear, in excellent condition, and estimated to 
weigh not far from twelve hundred pounds. The next thing to consider 
was the question of removal : it was not easy to handle such a burden and 
place it in the boat, and it would be a difficult matter to tow it back to 
the ship. The major decided to skin and divide the animal where he lay, 
and as each sailor was provided with a knife, and the Doctor had brought 
along a pair of sharp blades for use in case of need, the operation was 
quickly accomplished. 

Of course the party had been carefully watched from the ship, and the 
death of the bear was known there as soon as it occurred. Meantime the 
course of the ship had been changed, so as to bring it within less than half 
a mile of the floe where the prize was taken ; another boat was sent to 
assist in bringing home the provisions, and in little more than an hour 
from the time the first shot was fired, the entire party was back again. 
The major and the Doctor received the congratulations of their friends at 
the success of the hunt, which had been a pleasant episode, and supplied 
fresh meat for the table. The signal " we wish to communicate " was 
hoisted; the Gambetta was a couple of miles to windward, and on seeing 
the signal she bore down to come nearer her consort. The breeze con- 
tinued light, and it was some time before she was near enough for the 
Vivian's purpose. When the ships were about half a mile apart a boat 
was sent to Captain Girard with one of the quarters of the bear, accompa- 
nied by the compliments of Commander Bronson, and those of the two 
heroes of the fray. 

In the cabin of the Vivian they had steaks of polar bear for dinner, 
and the party was unanimous in declaring it equal to the best beefsteak 
they had ever tasted. The Doctor intimated that the fatness of the bear, 



124 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

and probably his youth, had a good deal to do with the favorable opinion 
passed upon him. " If he had happened to be old and lean," said the 
man of medicine, " we should have heard a different story. I have tried 
to eat the flesh, of the polar bear when it was like devouring a section of a 
boot-sole." 

Fred asked what was the proper name of the animal : should he be 
called white, polar, or arctic bear ? 

"As to that," replied the Doctor, "there is a difference of opinion. 
Scientifically he is Ursus maritimus, or ' bear of the sea ;' his home is on 
the ice of the northern seas, and the name fits him perfectly. He is a 
good swimmer, and takes readily to the water when occasion requires ; 
when he lives on land it is rather from necessity than choice, as his food 
comes mostly from the sea, or the bays that empty into it. His chief prey 
is the seal, and one of these clays we may see the ingenuity of the bear in 
securing his dinner. 

"He is a dingy yellow, rather than white, and therefore ' white bear' 
does not properly describe him ; we don't know whether he is found at the 
North-pole or not, and consequently 'polar bear' may be a misnomer; his 
home is in the arctic regions, and you may call him ' arctic bear' without 
fear of contradiction. But if you employ any other of the names already 
mentioned, none of us will dispute you ; language was made for the use of 
man, and not man for language, and nobody should lose his digestion if 
our prize of to-day is set down as a white or a polar bear. Ursus mariti- 
mus is too long for practical service." 

The crew was regaled on bear-meat, and so were the dogs ; the former 
took their allowance in peace, but not so the four-footed members of the 
ship's company. The scent of the meat excited them, and they came near 
eating up their drivers in their eagerness to get at their allowance of the 
new food. In spite of all efforts to restrain them, they had as many fights 
as there were dogs in the party, with several extra quarrels thrown in to 
keep things lively. 

The morning after the incident of the bear-hunt the lookout reported 
land in sight, and the commander mounted to the cross-trees to inspect it. 
There were mountains in the background, and the coast was fringed with 
ice, which threatened to be an effectual barrier to a near approach. The 
position on the chart indicated that they were in sight of Wrangell Island, 
and the ships were headed for it as directly as possible. As the Vivian 
approached the land a strip of gravelly beach was made out, but there 
were no signs of vegetation or animal life, greatly to the disappointment 
of our } 7 oung friends. 



WKANGELL ISLAND. 



125 



The ice was not so abundant as on the previous day, but the floes were 
larger, and Captain Jones proceeded with caution, through fear of spring- 
ing a leak in the sides of his craft. Frequently it was necessary to shorten 
sail, and so much time was lost in this way that the long arctic day was 
drawing to a close when they were yet a dozen miles from shore. 





SCENE IN FRONT OF THE ISLAND. 



Following the charts, and the directions laid down in Mr. Gilder's " Ice- 
pack and Tundra," the two ships, early the next morning, headed for the 
southern end of the island, and entered the harbor where the Rodgers 
anchored on her cruise in search of the Jeannette. They found plenty of 
water and good anchorage, just as Mr. Gilder described, though the bay 
was encumbered with ice that had evidently been blown there by the wind. 
As there were two ships, it required considerable manoeuvring to get them 
properly anchored where there was no danger of their interfering with 
each other ; the best part of the forenoon was gone before this work was 
over, and Captain Jones decided not to send a boat on shore until the men 
had eaten their dinners. 

The captain of the Gambetta was less considerate, as his ship had not 
settled to rest after dropping her anchor before a boat was seen stealing 
away from her side and heading for the land. The French flag waved over 
her stern, and it was evident that the explorers intended to hoist the tri- 
color in advance of the stars and stripes. 



126 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



Fred and George wanted to start at once and get ahead of their rival, 
but their proposal was promptly cheeked by the commander. 

"Never mind what they do now," said he; " the island has been visited 
before, and so nobody can discover it. American whalers have been here, 
and so have American exploring ships. The revenue cutter Corwin was 
here in 1881, a month or more in advance of the Rodger's, and they both 
hoisted the American flag over Wrangell Island and left records of their 
visit. Let the Frenchmen enjoy themselves. Think of what the people 
of Florida say of the Northerners who go to that State and shoot at the 
alligators: 'The Northerners are amused, and the alligators don't mind 
it.' " 




WINTER-QUARTERS OF BAREXTZ THREE HUNDRED TEARS AGO. 



SPORT ON WRANGELL ISLAND. 127 



CHAPTER IX 

A VISIT TO WRANGELL ISLAND.— HUNTING SEALS, WALRUSES, AND POLAR 

BEARS. 

TT was no easy matter for the French boat to push through the cakes of 
-*- ice, but the effort was successful; and just as the men of the Vivian 
were called to dinner the French flag was seen waving on a rock just above 
the shore. As soon as dinner was over a boat was sent off from the Vivian, 
carrying the two youths, with the major and Doctor. A lane through the 
ice at one side of the bay had slowly opened since the Gamhetta 1 s boat 
made its journey, and enabled the Americans to reach the land much more 
rapidly than their rivals. 

Meantime the French party had wandered off to the northward, leav- 
ing two men in charge of their boat; most of them were out of sight 
beyond the rocks, and just as the Americans reached the shore the report 
of a rifle was heard, followed quickly by another and another. Fred and 
George started in the direction of the sounds, but before they had gone a 
dozen yards one of the French officers appeared from behind a large rock 
and waved his handkerchief, so that it could be seen from the ships. 

"They've probably killed a bear," said George, "and he wants a boat 
to carry the prize on board." 

The signal was answered from the Gamhetta, and in a few minutes a 
boat was on its way from that ship to the land. The officer then disap- 
peared the way he had come, and the youths concluded not to follow him. 
" Let them have their bear all to themselves," said Fred ; " and if we get 
one they won't have any excuse for interfering with us." 

They rejoined the major and the Doctor, and accompanied by two sailors 
from the boat, the four explorers started in a direction different from that 
taken by the Frenchmen. It led them along the beach for half a mile or 
more, where the ice lay piled up in great win rows, with here and there a 
few open lanes. At the highest point where the tide rose there were many 
pieces of driftwood, and our friends were able to corroborate the testimony 
of Mr. Gilder, that the coast of "Wrangell Island is strewn with fragments 
of logs which have been borne thither by the currents. Mr. Gilder says 



128 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

that the Rodgers part} 7 found many utensils of wood here that were made 
by the natives of the Siberian and American coasts, some of them present- 
ing a very ancient appearance. Occasionally there are articles of civilized 
manufacture, but no one can tell whether they came from wrecks of ships 
or were dropped overboard from whalers. Fred looked for a portion of a 
spar mentioned by that gentleman, and found it lying apparently undis- 
turbed since the visit of the Rodgers. " There could be very little reason 
for its absence," said Fred, as he touched the spar with his foot, " as there 
is no record that any ship has been here since the Rodgers, and the na- 
tives are not in the habit of venturing as far as this from the coast." 

Moralizing on the origin of the driftwood on Wrangell Island resulted 
in the conclusion that it had been brought there from America and Siberia, 
principally the former. It is evident that the prevailing tendency of the 
currents is towards the west, and this theory was confirmed by observation 
of the masses of ice that ground against the headlands protecting the har- 
bor where the Vivian and Oambetta were lying. Even when the wind 
blew from the east the flow of the ice was westward. Mr. Gilder had pre- 
viously recorded a similar circumstance, and said that sometimes when the 
people of the Rodgers went to bed, while they lay at Wrangell Island, they 
would see pack-ice filling the sea as far as the eye could reach; and when 
they went on deck next morning there was a vast expanse of open water, 
with only a cake of ice floating here and there on the surface. Quite as 
often they found the solid pack in the morning where it was clear water 
the night before ; these sudden changes had given rise to a theory which 
prevails among the whalers, that the ice sinks and rises in obedience to 
some unknown law of nature. 

After a time our friends left the beach and ascended to the higher 
ground. Major Clapp was a little in advance, when he suddenly waved 
his hand and intimated that there was fun ahead. Guns were set at half- 
cock, and the hunting blood was apparently high. As the rest of the party 
reached the major's side the reason for his action was apparent. 

Two bears, one of goodly size and the other a partly-grown cub, were 
walking leisurely among the rocks on their way to the sea-shore, where 
they evidently hoped to pick up a breakfast. They had not seen the in- 
truders in their domain, or at all events did not indicate any alarm. It 
was decided that the major and the Doctor would attend to the old bear, 
while Fred and George looked after the cub. "And as the cub will stick 
by his parent," said the major, ''you had better let us do our part of the 
work first." 

Keeping among the rocks as much as possible, the party edged in the 



ARCTIC GAME. 



129 




130 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

direction of the bears, and soon had them at short range. The Doctor 
tired first ; the effect of his shot was to bring the old bear on her haunches, 
and cause her to look around to discover the source of the attack ; then 
the major put in a bullet, and as all occasion for further concealment was 
over, the whole party rushed forward, the two hunters taking the lead. 

Evidently the bear was severely wounded, but not enough to prevent 
her turning on her assailants with a savage roar. The major told the 
youths to fire, and they did so without hesitation; the older. hands added 
their leaden contribution, and together their efforts brought the bear to 
the ground. 

" Now go forward and finish the work," said the major, as he handed 
his rifle to Fred. " Step close up and put a bullet through the skull, but 
be ready to spring out of her way in case she rises suddenly." 

Fred obeyed the instructions, and the bear was a prize to the hunters 
from the Vivian. 

The cub did not attempt to run away, but stood as though quite dazed 
at the whole business. It seemed a pity to shoot the innocent little fellow, 
and George proposed that he should be captured, and carried on board 
the ship. Fred seconded the suggestion, but the major and Doctor ex- 
plained to the youths that it would not be feasible to do j as they wished. 
"We have no place for him," said the major; "and even if we had, his 
presence would excite our dogs so that their fury could not be restrained. 
They would be more difficult than ever to manage, and we could not have 
even the semblance of peace until he w>as killed and devoured. The best 
way out of the perplexity is to shoot him as mercifully as possible, and we 
shall doubtless find his flesh an agreeable addition to our table supplies." 

The cub was promptly despatched, skinned, dressed, quartered, and 
carried to the boat, and the skin of the old one was also taken along as 
a trophy. While the work was going on, Dr. Tonner told the youths of 
an incident in the experience of the author of " Seasons with the Sea- 
horses," when hunting bears in Spitzbergen. 

This gentleman and his friend one day saw a bear and two cubs on 
the shore, and started in pursuit of them. He says it was touching to see 
the devotion of the old bear to her young; she could have escaped with 
ease had it not been for the cubs, who did not seem to realize their danger, 
and needed constant assistance to get over the rough places in their way. 

The hunters could move faster than the cubs, and at length they over- 
took the group and succeeded in killing the old bear. When the} T came 
up to where she lay, the cubs growled viciously, and would not allow them- 
selves to be touched till the men brought lines from the boat and lassoed 



TRACES OF PREVIOUS VISITS. 131 

the little fellows. They were tied together, like dogs in a leash ; on find- 
ing themselves fast they began to fight viciously, and evidently each re- 
garded the other as the cause of his misfortune. It was no small task to 
get them to the boat, and then to the ship, as they resisted at every step 
and used their teeth freely. A cage was made for them, and they fought 
against entering it; they embraced every opportunity to escape, and one 
day one of them got out of his cage and jumped overboard. A boat Was 
lowered for his recapture, and he wounded one of the sailors quite severe- 
ly while being restored to his old quarters. With a good deal of trouble 
their owners brought them to civilization, and deposited them in a public 
garden, where they received much admiration. 

Birds were numerous, and easy of approach ; evidently visitors were 
rare in that locality, and the birds had not learned to beware of the white 
man and his means of destruction. No more bears were in sight, and it 
was decided to bag a few ducks and other game-birds for the table. For 
this purpose the shot-guns of Fred and George were better adapted than 
the rifles of the major and Doctor; the latter suggested that the youths 
would have a good time for practice by providing the birds for the table, 
and might take easy lessons where the prey was so tame. 

Ducks and plover were the principal attractions, and our friends suc- 
ceeded so well that in less than an hour they had all that were needed 
for the day. The two sailors acted as retrievers to bring in the game, and 
when they started for the boat with the proceeds of the shooting they had 
all they wanted to carry. The ducks proved to be tender, and of delicious 
flavor, and evidently had not changed their character since the visit of the 
liodgers. The Doctor w T as excellent authority on birds, and after dinner 
was over he declared that the plover of Wrangell Island surpassed anything 
of the kind he had ever seen. He murmured something about Taft's, at 
Point Shirley, but the whole of his remark was inaudible to the rest of 
the party. 

While the youths were busy among the game-birds the elders of the 
shore party occupied themselves with searches for the trace of previous 
visitors. At the head of the little harbor was a cairn of stones, which 
they reached a few minutes in advance of one of the French officers, who 
was evidently chagrined that the Americans were ahead of him. Remov- 
ing the stones of the cairn one by one, a wooden box w T as found, and in 
the box was a bottle carefully corked and sealed. Inside the bottle was 
a roll of paper which proved on examination to be the record of the visit 
of the Conoin in August, 1881, and of the liodgers a month later. Bottle 
and paper were taken on board the Vivian, and returned the next day 



132 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



to the cairn, with a record of the visit of that ship and the Gambetta 

attached to the original paper. 

The rocks near the sea were covered with water-fowl, and each report 

of the guns sent hundreds of them flying into the air. The youths 

wanted to shoot some of thera^ but 
were restrained by the Doctor, who 
said they were of no use as food, and 
it would be a waste of, ammunition 
to kill them. There were several 
varieties of these birds ; among 
them were the mollemoke, and the 
great and little auk, the latter a 
comical looking fellow who sat up- 
right on the shore, and held his 
wings as though they were intended 
for hands. The auk is well known 
to all arctic travellers in the regions 
of Greenland and Spitzbergen ; he 
lives upon fish, and his diet gives 
his flesh a flavor not at all to the 
taste of the European. 

It was getting late in the after- 



noon, and the major ordered a re- 
turn to the ship. During their ab- 
sence the ice had drifted out of the 
bay,' so that they had an easier jour- 
ney than when coming ashore; the 
French boat started back at the same time, and they had a friendly race 
for a part of the distance, which was won by the latter. 

During the afternoon the lookout espied several seals on the rocks a 
little farther down the bay, and a boat was sent in pursuit of them. 
The second mate of the Vivian had been in the Greenland seal-fishery, 
and consequently the expedition was placed in his charge ; he carried a 
couple of rifles, but his chief reliance was on some clubs, which he pro- 
nounced far more effective. " You must kill them at short range," said 
he, " and when you come to close quarters the club is a better weapon 
than the rifle. You don't have to stop to put in fresh cartridges every 
minute, and besides, when you hit one there's no report to frighten the 
rest." 

The boat reached the shore in such a position as to'cut off the retreat 




THE AUK AT HOME. 



HUNTING THE SEAL. 



133 



of the seals to the water. The mate sprang on shore, followed by two 
of the sailors, all armed with clubs; with no other weapons they rushed 
among the seals, and in a short time a dozen or more had been killed. A 
violent blow on the nose is fatal to the seal, but it is not easy to hit him in 
the right spot, as he does not stand still, and besides, he shows fight when 
in close quarters. The male seal is particularly fierce, and will make a 
stout defence ; woe be to the assailant who slips on the rocks and gives 
one of these fellows a chance for a bite on arm or leg. He can sever an 
arm at a single movement of his jaws, and can break the bone of a man's 
leg without much effort. 

No accident happened to the sealers, and they returned with a full load 
of meat as the reward of their exertions. Not only was the boat laden as 
low as was safe to fill her, but several of the seals were towed astern, and 
had to be hoisted in with a tackle at the end of one of the spars. The 
flesh of the seal is excellent eating, and sailors generally prefer it to beef. 




The crew were liberally provided -with it, and so were the dogs; what 
with young bear, ducks, and plover, in the cabin and wardroom, and seal- 
meat in the forecastle, there was no scarcity of fresh provisions on board 

9* 



134 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

the Vivian. The Ganibetta had followed her consort's example and sent 
a boat among the seals, but evidently her men were not skilful in the pur- 
suit of that amphibious game, as they secured less than half as many as 
the other boat. 

"As fat as a seal" is an old saying in the eastern States, and certainly 
it is an expressive one. The seal is visually in excellent condition, and at 
certain seasons of the year contains so much oil that he is a valuable prize 
to his captors. The seal-fisheries of Greenland employ great, numbers of 
men, principally from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and also from Ice- 
land, Norway, and Denmark. Some of the seals are taken for their skins, 
but the main purpose of capture is for the oil. We have already heard of 
the fur seal of the north-west coast of America, who is quite different 
from his cousin of Greenland, and far more valuable. Fur seals abound 
in only a few localities on the surface of the globe, and if they were not 
protected by stringent laws they would soon disappear. 

During the evening Commander Bronson went on board the Gambetta 
for a conference with Captain Girard. It was decided to remain a day or 
two longer at Wrangell Island, to lay in a plentiful store of food for the 
dogs, and to make observations that might be of advantage to themselves 
or future navigators. A boat was to go from each ship in pursuit of seals 
and walruses; as the Vivian's mate was an experienced hunter after this 
game, he was placed in command of the joint expedition, and while he 
and his crew attended to securing the prizes, the Frenchmen were to look 
after the transportation. Then each ship was to send out an exploring 
party, the Frenchmen going to the north, while the Americans took a 
southerly course. 

Fred went with the sealers, while George was with the exploring party. 
The former were off before six in the morning, and within two hours they 
had killed nearly thirty seals. While waiting for the French sailors to re- 
move the game to the shore, and thence to the ships, they espied some wal- 
ruses on the ice, beyond a point of land which formed one side of the bay, 
and away they went in chase. They were screened from the view of their 
game by the intervening point of land, and managed to get quite close to 
the ice without being perceived. 

" We'll shoot one, and perhaps two of them," said the mate, " and then 
we'll take to the harpoons." 

Fred asked why they did not rely altogether on shooting, as it ought 
to be quicker work than with the harpoon. The mate explained that the 
vulnerable part of a walrus is about the size of an orange, and unless you 
hit him on that spot your shot goes for nothing. " We may be able to get 



ARCTIC SPORT. 



135 







136 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

one or two of tliem in that way before they take alarm," said he, " but 
after that it's hard work to hit 'em. You'll know more about walrus hunt- 
ing an hour from now, and then you'll see the reason of our relying on the 
harpoon." 

Fred was willing to wait and be instructed. They reached the edge 
of the floe where half a dozen walruses were takino; the sun, and all un- 
conscious of the impending danger. The side of the floe was about five 
feet above the water, and so the boat and its occupants were quite out of 
sight as they lay along-side. 

"With a repeating rifle in his hand, the mate stood up in the bow of the 
boat, while the men held it as steady as they could with the ice-hooks 
against the floe. One, two, three shots were fired almost as quickly as 
you could count, and each bullet went crashing into the skull of a walrus. 

Then the rifle was passed back to one of the men, and the mate seized 
the harpoon. As he did so, the frightened animals that had not been 
touched by the bullets went sliding from the floe into the water. 

To the surprise of Fred, the mate threw the harpoon into the smallest 
of the herd, a little fellow less than half the size of any of the others. 
Pie began to cry immediately, and then his mother came to his relief, and 
with her several others. They showed their tusks, and threatened to at- 
tack the boat; four of them were killed, and then the cub was slaugh- 
tered, and as soon as he ceased crying the rest went away. The mate 
said the walrus hunters always did this when they had the opportunity, 
as the mother will stay by her young, and the rest will come to assist her 
to defend it. At such times the walruses are very fierce, and they have 
been known to attack and sink a boat; they come along-side and hook their 
tusks over the gunwales, and when they get a good hold something must go. 

Fred thought that seven walruses were enough for a day's catch, but 
the mate said they must make it eight, in order to have no trouble about 
division between the ships. They waited near the ice-floe for some time, 
and finally a walrus came to the surface close to the boat; the mate threw 
a harpoon and caught him, and in a little while he was finished with the 
lance. Then signal was made to the ship to send another boat, and mean- 
time they started off with two of the prizes in tow. Slow progress was 
made, and before they rounded the point they met the boat from the 
Vivian, and also one from the Gambetta. All the game of the morning 
was brought in before nightfall, and Fred was congratulated on the part 
he had borne in the affair. He declared he had only been a spectator, to 
which Commander Bronson replied that a good spectator was not always 
easy to find. 



INLAND EXPLORATIONS. 



137 



The land party had a more wearisome journey than did the seal and 
walrus hunters, with less excitement to sustain them. George was ambi- 
tious to plant the American flag higher than the French had placed the 
tricolor the day before, and consequently fixed his eye on a hill about a 
thousand feet high, at least a couple of miles back from the head of the 
bay. He carried ashore a small flag, witli its staff, and started as soon as 
they were landed for the hill in question, accompanied by one of the sail- 
ors. The French boat was close be- 
hind them, and as the sailor was a 
better climber than George, he ran 
ahead and planted the flag at the 
top of the hill before the French- 
men had reached its base. The lat- 
ter stopped, and gave three cheers 
for the Americans, who had got 
ahead of them, and then made for 
another hill farther inland. 

There was not much to be seen 
on the hill, as the country was desti- 
tute of vegetation save a few patch- 
es of moss, and now and then some 
tiny shrubs that evidently had a 
hard struggle for existence. George 

found an enormous bone, which Dr. Tonner pronounced to be the bone 
of a mammoth; other bones were found in the vicinity, and they looked 
around for the tusk of the animal. No tusk could be found, and they 
concluded it had fallen to the possession of some previous visitor. 

Later in the day the tusk of a mammoth was discovered, and it was 
so large that two men found it a heavy burden. They were sent to the 
boat to bring an oar, and some cords for lashing it, but near the land- 
ing they found a slender pole, which seemed better for the purpose, and > 
it was taken along. The pole had drifted across the Arctic Ocean ; 
whether it grew on the banks of an American or a Siberian river nobody 
could tell, but in either case the forest of its origin was many hundreds 
of miles away. The tusk when weighed on shipboard was found to tip 
the beam at a hundred and fifteen pounds, and it was afterwards ascer- 
tained that the people from the Gambetta had found a tusk weighing a 
hundred and six pounds. America was therefore nine pounds ahead ! 

The incident naturally led to a conversation of which the mammoth 
was the chief topic. Dr. Tonner said so many mammoths' tusks had been 



: ; 




HOISTING THE FLAG. 



13S 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 




THE SIBERIAN MAMMOTH. 



found in Siberia that they had become a regular article of commerce for 
more than a century, though in recent years the number had somewhat 
diminished. 

" The scientific name of the animal," said he, " is Elephas primigenius, 
and he was in his time the elephant of the period. He was somewhat 
larger than the elephant of to-day, but not much ; his bod} 7 was heavier 
and clumsier, and covered with hair that enabled him to live in a colder 
climate than the natural home of the elephant we are familiar with." 

Fred asked if any living mammoth had been known in modern times. 

" No," was the reply ; " but as the bones have been found with marks 
upon them, it is conjectured that they lived with man during the Stone 
Age. The climate of Siberia was evidently warmer than it is now, prob- 
ably like that of New York or Pennsylvania, and the mammoth found 
plenty of food to eat. He had three kindsof hair: one long and coarse, 
a second of finer quality, and a third like wool. The first was like horse- 
hair, and measured twelve or fifteen inches ; the second resembled the 
hair of a deer, and was nine or ten inches long ; and the third was woolly, 
and four or five inches thick. So you see he could stand the cold a great 
deal better than the modern elephant, which has to be housed in the win- 
ter of our northern climate. 

"You may wonder how we know all this. In the year 1799 a Tungu- 



THE AGE OF THE MAMMOTH. 



139 



sian fisherman discovered a mammoth frozen into a bank of earth near 
the river Lena. He kept the discovery to himself, and after a time re- 
moved the tusks and sold them ; the wolves, bears, and foxes fed upon the 
flesh of the dead animal which had been so wonderfully preserved, and 
when the spot was visited in 1805 by Adams, an English naturalist, not 
even the whole skeleton remained. One fore-leg had disappeared, and a 
few of the other bones were gone, but the brains were in the skull and 
the eyes in their sockets. A good deal of the skin and hair was found ; 
as much as possible was gathered and taken to St. Petersburg, where the 
skeleton now is. 

"Elephant remains are found in America, where the extinct animal is 
called the mastodon. They have also been discovered in England and all 
over Europe, especially in Germany, and the evidence is very conclusive that 
this animal had the range of a large part of the globe ages and ages ago." 

" But how did that one get frozen into the bank where the fisherman 
found him ?" one of the youths inquired. 

" Probably in the grand cataclysm we were talking about some time 
ago," replied the Doctor. " The earth cooled suddenly, or rather this part 
of it did, and the mammoth was caught in the congelation in the same 
way that fishes are sometimes found frozen in the ice of rivers. There 
was this difference, though, that the fishes are frozen in their natural habi- 
tation, while the mammoth was doubtless drowned by the upheaval of the 
waters, and then covered with the drift of earth, where he lay for thou- 
sands of years until brought to light in the way I have described." 











THE MAMMOTH RESTORED. 



140 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER X. 

HERALD ISLAND.— CAUGHT IN THE ICE.— A NARROW ESCAPE. 

IT was not deemed advisable to devote any time to the exploration of 
the coast of Wrangell Island, nor to make long excursions into the in- 
terior, as that work had already been performed by the officers of the 
Rodgers in 1881. So, on the third day after their arrival, the two ships 
left the bay where they had been anchored, and headed for Herald Island 
as directly as the drifting ice wonld permit. 

The visit of the Rodgers demonstrated that Wrangell was not a con- 
tinent but an island, and contained two ranges of mountains whose highest 
peaks were less than three thousand feet high. One of these ranges lies 

along the southern coast, and 
the other near the centre of the 
island, from east to west; north 
of the backbone, or central 
range, there is a rolling land, 
with occasional detached peaks, 
and along the entire coast line 
there are numerous sand-bars 
which render navigation both 
difficult and dangerous. As 
before stated, there is very 
little vegetation, and the an- 
imal life is confined to polar 
bears, seals, walruses, and numerous water-fowl. 

^Before they lost sight of Wrangell Island our friends had Herald 
Island in full view, so that there was no necessity of an observation ex- 
cept for verifying or correcting the figures of previous navigators. Near 
the coast of Herald Island they met a whaling ship, and sent a boat on 
board ; it returned shortly, with the announcement that the whaler had 
been successful and was nearly full of oil ; one whale more would com- 
plete the cargo, and then she would steer for San Francisco. This an- 




EXPLORING THE COAST. 



LANDING ON HERALD ISLAND. 



141 



nouncement led to a hasty completion of letters and despatches, which 
were sealed in a bag and despatched to America. The Gambetta also 
sent a bag of letters, and as soon as they were on board, the whaler filled 
away and steered to the southward. Her captain was confident that in 
a few days his carg.o would be complete, and he hoped soon to be out of 
the Arctic Ocean, and headed fur home. 




ON SHORE IN THE FAR NORTH. 



The approach to Herald Island was rendered difficult b} 7 masses of 
floating ice, and also by a reef which extended about two miles from its 
south-western extremity. There was no sign of a harbor, and so the ships 
lay-to off the shore, while each sent a boat inside the reef, where a small 
strip of beach afforded a convenient landing-place. The party from the 
Vivian included the Doctor and the major, together with George and 
Fred ; they got off a little ahead of the Gambetta) s boat, and by energetic 
pulling were the first on shore. The major and George climbed to the 
top of the island, while the Doctor and Fred busied themselves with, the 
inspection of the beach. 

The climbers did not have an easy time of it, as the rock was loose, and 
liable to break off at any moment, while the sides of the ascent were very 
steep. George said they made the most of their upward journey " coon- 
fashion," and the return. " sled-fashion." They had to go up on hands and 
feet, clinging to the projections and running the risk of a tumble; they 



142 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

came down the same way to where the broken shale lay piled up, like the 
cinders on Mount Vesuvius. On this they sat down and coasted, to the 
detriment of their garments, especially as they acquired a rapid rate of 
progress before reaching the beach. The major estimated the central 
elevation at about six hundred feet, and said the whole island was visible 
from it. He described the island as a ridge about six miles long and 
less than half a mile wide, without a harbor where ships could anchor. 
Wrangell Island was visible, but no other land could be seen in any 
direction. 

The beach party did not fatigue themselves with climbing, but were 
by no means idle. They found drift-wood abundant, and proceeded 'to 
light a fire, and then they looked about for records of previous visits. 
None were discovered, although it is certain that several ships had touched 
there at different times. A cairu of stones was found at the western 
extremity of the island, but it had evidently been despoiled, as it contained 
nothing to reveal its origin, and there was no mark on the rocks in the 
neighborhood. They looked for the plank erected by the Rodgers, but it 
had disappeared. Assisted by the men from the Gamhetta, our friends 
erected a cairn in which they placed a bottle containing a record of the 
visit, and to make sure that it should be seen, a cross formed of two pieces 
of drift-wood was placed above it. No bears or other quadrupeds were 
visible, but there was an abundance of water-fowl similar to those on 
Wrangell Island. The rifles were of little use, but there was abundant 
occupation for the shot-guns in killing ducks and plover for the cabin 
table. Dr. Tonner killed a duck which he pronounced an eider, the pro- 
ducer of the down famous the world over for its usefulness in filling 
quilts. Whether the duck belonged on the island or was only there by 
accident no one could tell. 

The best part of the day was spent in the visit to Herald Island, and 
when the boats returned to the ship the travellers were weary and hungry. 
Major Clapp reported ice to the north of Herald Island as the result of 
his observation from the summit, but said it did not appear to be very 
thick. While the boats were on shore, the two commanders had met in 
the cabin of the Gamhetta, and decided to steer to the north-east, unless 
prevented by circumstances then unforeseen. When the boats were hoisted 
in, the ships filled their sails with the southerly breeze and steered as 
agreed upon. 

They were now in the domains of the midnight sun, and it was not 
always easy to keep the time; as Fred expressed it, "you couldn't say 
whether it was to-day or to-morrow." The sun did not go below the 



THE FAE NORTH IN SUMMER. 



143 




UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SCN. 



144 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



horizon at midnight, though it just touched it, and the assertion that the 
sun rises in the east and sets in the west had lost its correctness. The uses 
of a clock on which the hours are marked from one to twenty-four became 
apparent, and Fred and George adopted the plan of dividing the day in 




NEAR THE ICE-PA OK. 



that way. "Eighteen o'clock" served to indicate six in the afternoon, 
and " twenty- three o'clock" meant eleven at night. It was rather trying 
to go to bed in broad daylight, but they soon got used to it. Fred said he 
couldn't think of staying awake for three months, and then sleeping for 
the same length of time, and so he accepted the situation without a single 
break. 

As they sailed away from Herald Island, with the prow of the Vivian 
in the direction of the pole, Commander Bronson recalled the fate of the 
Jeannette. 

"We are now," said he, "almost at the point where the Jeannette was 
beset in the ice on the 6th of September, 1879. She never escaped from 
it until she sank to the depths of the Arctic Ocean, nearly two years later, 
and left her crew to the perils of a journey over ice and open water to the 
shores of Siberia." 

" Yes," responded the Doctor, " and who can tell how soon we shall be 
enclosed in the icy walls, and compelled to drift wherever the currents may 
take us ?" 

" There was one remarkable feature of the drift of the Jeannette" said 
the major. "It was not on a reasonably direct line, as though driven by a 
steady current, like what we find on the coast of Greenland. The Jean- 
nette seemed to move as though propelled by shifting currents, and her 



THE STORY OF THE "JEANNETTE. 



145 



track was very irregular. On the published chart it is in the form of zig- 
zags, and crosses itself repeatedly. This was the case soon after she was 
frozen in near Herald Island; she drifted north, then east, and then south- 
west, and then to the westward. On the 3d of November, 1880, she was 
in almost exactly the same position as on the 26th of the previous April, 
but in the mean time she had drifted, or rather had been borne by the ice 
to every point of the compass, and her wanderings covered fully ten de- 
crees of longitude." 

"What was the rate of the drift?" one of the listeners inquired. 

"It varied considerably," was the reply. "Some days it was as high 
as twenty miles or more, and at other times not more than half a mile. 
Occasionally the ship was almost stationary for days together; this hap- 
pened in the coldest weather, and showed that at such times there was very 
little current. 




in 






is ;i 




uasswa-g/im/rr. 

CABIN SCENE IN AN ARCTIC WINTER. 



" Captain De Long was of the opinion," the major continued, " that 
even the lightest winds caused a movement of the ice, except when it was 
of great thickness. "We shall probably have occasion to make practical 
observations on this point before many days; we'll drop the subject now, 
and follow the Jeannette in her monotonous career after she was enclosed 
in the ice. 

10 



146 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN. 



" From the time she was frozen in, the life on shipboard was full of 
dreariness. For more than a year she moved in the zigzags I have de- 
scribed to the north of Herald and Wrangell Islands, and then drifted 
slowly to the westward. Sometimes the ice broke, and promised to set 
them free ; when the hopes of Captain De Long and his companions were 
thus raised the ice closed again, and escape was as far off as ever. As the 
winter came on, the cold increased and the ice thickened. Terrible gales 




*j^^ 



^J. 





EDGE OF THE ICE-PACK. 



swept over the surface of the Arctic Ocean, and caused a continual grind- 
ing and crushing of the great floes, which threatened the instant destruc- 
tion of the ship. 

"The captain in his journal gives a vivid description of the noise 
caused by these movements of the ice. There were loud crashes as the 
floes broke against each other, mingled with the peculiar grinding sounds 
of the attrition of the smaller pieces, and the roar of the wind as it im- 
pinged on the roughened surface. Frequently they were called from their 
beds at night, in momentary expectation that the ship would be crushed, 
and for months and months together everything was kept in readiness fur 
sudden departure. The sledges and boats were on the ice near the ship^ 
where the floes seemed to promise the greatest security. The dogs were 
quartered there, though they came aboard the ship whenever they liked, 
and quantities of provisions were stored near the boats or on the sledges. 

" The flrst serious alarm occurred on the 19th of January, 18S0, an 



WINTERING IN THE ICE. 



14' 



hour or so past midnight. The captain was seated in his room, when he 
heard a sound as though some of the ship's timbers were cracking; he ran 
out and found there was no movement of the ice, and after looking around 
and discovering no cause for the sound, he went to bed under the impres- 
sion that nothing more had happened than a bolt drawn by the extreme 
cold. About eight o'clock in the morning the wind suddenly shifted 
from north to north-west, and the ice began to move ; it came with tre- 
mendous force against the bow, and piled up large masses in front of the 
ship ; but as that was the strongest part of the Jeannette, it was thought 
she could stand the strain without injury. 

" But when the men went below to serve out coal for the day's use, 
they found a stream pouring in through a crack in the fore-foot; there 
were three feet of water in the fore-hold, and a corresponding amount in 
the store-room and fire-room. All the crew was called, and while some 
worked at the pumps the rest removed the stores from the part of the ship 
that was most seriously threatened. 

"From that day until she disappeared beneath the waters the Jecmnette 
was constantly leaking, and it required the steady attention and exertion 
of her crew to keep her afloat. The supply of coal was exhausted in work- 
ing the steam-pumps, so that if the ship had been released from the ice she 
would have been com- 
pelled to work under sail 
alone. After this inci- 
dent orders were given to 
have the sledges packed 
ready for instant depart- 
ure, and during the gales 
everybody lay down to 
rest with his knapsack on 
his back or by his side. 
Captain De Long de- 
scribed their situation 
i like living over a pow- 
der magazine, with a train laid for instant firing.' The excitement grow- 
ing out of their constant peril, varied with occasional hunts after bears 
and walruses, were the only variations to the monotony of their existence, 
and everybody suffered from the enforced inactivity. 

" Of course they hoped to be released during the summer of 1880, and 
have an opportunity to add to the discoveries of previous explorers. But 
the Ice-king did not relent, and they remained in their prison until winter 




ICE IN MOTION. 



148 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

came again. Then followed the long darkness, then the arctic spring and 
summer, with the sun at midnight, and it was in this second period of con- 
tinuous day that the great calamity occurred to the Jeannette. 

"The ice opened, and for some time the ship was afloat; then it closed 
again, crushing her sides as though they had been of pasteboard, but hold- 
ing her firmly in their grasp. She remained afloat nearly twelve hours, so 
that there was time for everybody to escape to the ice, with a fairly good 
stock of provisions. Then followed the preparations for the journey to the 
Siberian coast, and seven days after the sinking of the ship the march be- 
gan to the southward. 

" The boats were on sledges drawn by the men and dogs, and there was 
a stock of provisions sufficient for reaching the Siberian coast. The jour- 
ney occupied more than three months, including a rest of eight days on 
Bennett Island, where the sledges were abandoned and the boats launched 
in the water, which had become sufficiently open for navigation. 

" The party landed on one of the islands of the New Siberia group, and 
afterwards on Semenovski Island. They were separated by a gale on the 
12th of September, and one of the boats, commanded by Lieutenant 
Chipp, was never heard from. Another, commanded by Engineer Mel- 
ville, reached the coast safely, and her party soon fell in with the natives 
and were saved from starvation. The other boat, in which were Command- 
er De Long and thirteen others, was less fortunate than that of the en- 
gineer; it reached one of the mouths of the Lena, which it ascended as far 
as the ice would permit, and there the crew went on shore. It was neces- 
sary to abandon many things on leaving the boat; when they reached the 
land the stock of provisions was very small, and there was but a limited 
amount of clothing for the weary and frost-bitten men. Two sailors, Nm- 
dermann and Noros, were sent away to procure help, and when nearly dead 
with fatigue and starvation fell in with some wandering natives. They 
could not induce these people to go with them to relieve the shipwrecked 
crew, and so all of their party that had been left behind died of hunger 
and cold on the banks of the Lena. The two sailors were taken to a Rus- 
sian village, where they met Mr. Melville, their old officer; he did every- 
thing in his power for the rescue of De Long and his companions, but all 
in vain. The records which were afterwards found by the side of De Long 
at the spot where he died showed that before Melville started on his search 
the whole party had perished. 

" In the following spring an expedition w T as sent to the mouth of the 
Lena to find the last camp of the explorers, and secure the records of the 
voyage of the Jeannette. All the papers were found and preserved, the 



A NAREOW ESCAPE. 



149 




150 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

bodies were buried, and a monument was erected over their grave. One 
by one the survivors returned to the United States ; and finally, in the 
early part of 1884, the bodies of De Long and those who died with him 
were brought home for burial in their native land. The story of the Jean- 
nette is one of the most pathetic that has been given to us in the annals of 
arctic exploration." 

As the major ended his account of the adventures of De Long and 
his companions, there was not a dry eye among his group of listeners. 
Not a word was spoken, but silently, one by one, they sought the deck, 
and did not revert to the subject of the conversation. 

"The ice is growing thicker in the north," said the Doctor, as he 
waved his hand in the direction indicated. "The wind seems to be press- 
ing the floes together, and I should not be surprised if the pack closes in 
upon us before another twenty hours." 

Hour by hour the ice became more abundant, and the Doctor's predic- 
tion was verified. Within twenty hours from the time he made it, they 
were surrounded by drifting ice, so closely that it was practically turned 
into a pack. Here and there lanes of water were open, and the ships 
pressed through them to make as much northing as possible before their 
progress was arrested. The lanes narrowed, and finally disappeared alto- 
gether, and the ships were enclosed where both sails and steam were pow- 
erless. It was not deemed advisable to lis-ht the fires and use the engines 
until there should be a prospect of reaching open water by so doing. 

Where the ice came from that closed in behind them after their prog- 
ress was arrested nobody could tell. In ten hours from the time they 
stopped, the entire horizon to the south had changed from water to ice, 
with an appearance of solidity which was anything but encouraging. 
The wind was variable, as it shifted from south to east, then to south- 
west, and afterwards to south-east, all within a few hours; the change 
of wind caused an irregular motion to the ice-fields, and the crashing and 
grinding of the floes and cakes was continuous. 

Fred and George asked permission to go out on the ice, but their 
request was denied. Captain Jones explained that there might be a break- 
up at any moment, and they would run great risk of being cut off from 
their floating home. " The pack," said he, " is not yet solidly closed, how- 
ever much it may appear so; a change of wind may open long lanes of 
water, and you might suddenly find yourself with one of these lanes be- 
tween you and the ship. We could not send a boat for you, as it would 
be impossible to launch one, and your only chance would be to. swim 
across the lanes and clamber over the cakes and floes." 



A SUDDEN PERIL. 151 

Such a risk was not to be thought of for a moment, and they con- 
tented themselves with looking at the ice from the deck of the Vivian. 
George had a glass in his hand, and was endeavoring to find a space of 
open water when he suddenly caught sight of a bear. 

The animal was at least two miles away, and coming towards the 
ship, as though desirous of investigating it and ascertaining its character. 
Rifles were brought, and everybody was ready for a shot in case there 
was a chance for it. Captain Jones said that, if the bear came near 
enough, the hunters might go out on the ice in pursuit of him ; but they 
must be under strict orders to return at a signal from the ship. 

The bear continued to approach, and when he was within half a 
mile of the Vivian the captain gave his permission, and the Doctor and 
major went over the side and down upon the ice, accompanied, or rather 
followed, by Fred and George. Screening themselves as well as possible 
behind the hummocks scattered over the ice-pack, they got along very 
well, and were soon within range of the game. Evidently the bear was 
suspicious ; he stopped in his advance and stood erect, in order to take in 
as wide a field of view as possible. This gave an excellent mark for the 
rifles, and the major took a shot at the denizen of the ice. The Doctor 
followed his example almost at the same instant; the bullets went true 
to their mark, and the bear fell to the ice apparently dead. 

The hunters advanced cautiously, and it was well they did so. The 
bear rose to his feet when they were not more than half a dozen yards 
away, and sprang directly towards them; already his paws seemed to be 
within reach of the major's face, when the Doctor fired again and brought 
him down once more. The shot was fatal, and there was no further sign 
of life. 

The major drew his handkerchief and waved it, as an intimation that 
they had killed their bear and wanted help to carry it on board. As he 
did so, a rifle was fired on the deck of the Vivian : it was the signal 
agreed upon for their return, and indicated danger. 

There was no delay in attempting to save the bear, though all the 
party regretted leaving such a prize to be eaten by w T olves or to sink 
beneath the waves. They knew that the signal would not have been 
given without good reason, and possibly they might be in great peril with- 
out knowing it. 

Wherever the condition of the ice permitted, they ran at the top of 
their speed; but there were many places where running was impossible, 
owing to the roughness of the way. To prevent accidents with their 
weapons, the major ordered that all cartridges should be removed, and 



152 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN. 




HUMMOCKS AFLOAT. 



on no account was one of the party to stop to shoot at anything except 
in self-defence. They were near their ship, and the only bear they had 
seen was dead ; consequently, there was not much likelihood of their fall- 
ing into temptation. 

They were about half-way to the ship when two shots were fired in 
quick succession. They naturally looked in the Vivian's direction, and 

saw one of the officers stand- 
ing at the gangway waving a 
small flag. The movements 
of the flag indicated that they 
were to make a detour to the 
right and reach the ship near 
her bows. They turned as in- 
dicated, and the flag ceased its 
motion. 

" There's open water be- 
tween us and the ship,''' said 
the major, " and we must go 
about to weather it." 
Again the flag waved, and another shot was fired. 
" We're in great danger," said the Doctor. " Run for your lives !" 
The pace was quickened, the major taking the lead. 
A hundred yards from the ship they reached a great fissure or lane, 
at least twenty feet across, with bits of ice floating at intervals of a yard 
or two. These cakes were too small to render it safe to try to jump from 
one to another, and the only way of escape was to. pass around the end 
of the lane. To their dismay, the lane extended perhaps an eighth of a 
mile, and w T as widening and lengthening every moment. 

There was a commotion below the surface which indicated a general 
disruption of the pack. Every few minutes an upheaval threw pieces of 
ice into the air with the sonnd of an explosion, and formed a hummock 
like the top of a miniature volcano. What if the mass should separate 
altogether while they w r ere on its surface ! 

Faster than ever they ran along the side of the lane till they neared its 
end. There was a width of four or five feet over which the major sprang 
with the agility of a deer; he turned to catch the Doctor, who narrowly 
escaped a fall, and then the two men received Fred and George without 
accident. Each of the party clung to his rifle ; the major admitted after- 
wards that he was too scared to think of dropping his burden, his whole 
thought being to waste no time in getting to the ship. 



A NARROW ESCAPE. 153 

They approached the ship under her bowsprit. Their coming was pro- 
vided for, as the captain had ordered rope-ladders lowered from the bows, 
so that the time of going as far aft as the gangway was saved. The 
major and Fred sprang to one of the ladders, while the Doctor and 
George seized the other. In a few seconds they were on the deck of the 
Vivian, and safe from their peril. 

The lane of water continued to widen and lengthen, and the commo- 
tion below the ice increased. While our friends were still panting from 
the fatigue of their enforced run over the ice, the floes came together with 
great violence, and formed a huge winrow of irregular blocks and frag- 
ments, perhaps a dozen feet high. Then it opened again, and in a few 
minutes the floes were separated and water was visible in a dozen direc- 
tions. The ice around the ship gave way and she floated free. With the 
aid of the glass they could see that the same disturbance was going on in 
the vicinity of the Gamhetta. 

The latter vessel had been lying with her prow to the westward, but 
she was gradually turned by the ice until she headed due north. Then 
she spread her foresail to catch the breeze, and soon was forging slowly 
ahead. 

" She's determined to sail to the pole," said the Doctor. 

" Yes," answered Major Clapp, ' ; and so are we." 

As he spoke he pointed to the foresail of the Vivian, which was fol- 
lowing the example of the Frenchman. Captain Jones was aloft in the 
crow's-nest, and his quick eye had noted the movement of the Gamhetta. 
As her men were ascending the rigging he gave the necessary order, and 
was evidently determined not to be left behind. 




■\ 



HOW A HUMMOCK IS FORMED. 



154 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER XL 

FAST IN THE ICE.— GOING INTO WINTER QUARTERS. 

OBSERVATION" at noon showed the ships to be in latitude 72° 15' 
north, longitude 176° 20' west; the lookout reported signs of open 
water to the eastward, and after a short dialogue with the signal-flags the 
ships were headed in that direction, the Vivian leading. In a couple of 
hours the course was changed to the north-east, and the promise of open 
water was increased, since there was no indication of ice-blink on the horizon 
towards which they were steering. Between seven and eight o'clock, or, as 
Fred expressed it, " at half-past nineteen," the open water was distinctly 
visible eight or ten miles ahead of their position, and by midnight they 
were practically free of the ice. 

Just as they had reached clear sailing a fog set in, and it was neces- 
sary to proceed with great caution. Very little way was made by either 
ship, as it was impossible to determine when the ice would be reached 
again, and it would be a serious matter to run against a floe while proceed- 
ing at the rate of five or six knots an hour. Sail was shortened to little 
more than the extent of a pocket-handkerchief, and the Vivian and Gam- 
betta drifted along, and literally felt their way. They did not make more 
than a mile an hour in this sort of progress, and it was especially tantaliz- 
ing, as there was a favoring breeze that would have borne them merrily 
along if circumstances permitted. The wisdom of their precaution was 
shown when a huge floe appeared through the fog and effectually barred 
their way. The captain ordered an ice-anchor to be put out, and in a 
little while the Vivian was moored to the floe, and the Gambetta followed 
her example. 

The fog lifted after a time, and showed that the floe was of great ex- 
tent ; it embraced several small icebergs, the first they had seen, and as 
soon as it was considered safe to do so a party w T ent off to examine them. 
The largest of the bergs was about a hundred feet high and five hundred 
yards long, and the ice of which it was composed was remarkably clear 
for the product of a glacier. Captain Jones said he thought it must have 



TAKING A EEST. 



155 



ili|IMIfflllliliflIlli! !! '' , 'if^. H i III 




■mm 



iff' I' "1 Nil' I 



f_^JI 



15G THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

come from the American coast, though possibly it may have originated in 
one of the islands discovered by Captain De Long on his retreat southward, 
after the sinking of the Jeannette. In the journal from which the ac- 
count of his voyage was written, he says that he saw on Bennett Island 
one glacier which was three miles across at its front, and another, some- 
what smaller, a little farther along the coast. 

Several blocks were cut from the berg and taken on board the Vivian; 
they melted one of these blocks, and the water obtained from it was per- 
fectly fresh; this proved unmistakably that it was from a glacier. Floe- 
ice is formed by the freezing of salt- water, but occasionally cakes and 
fragments are found which have drifted down from Siberian or American 
rivers, and are therefore fresh. In the heat of summer the surface of 
a floe is often covered in many places with water two or three inches 
deep ; sometimes this water comes from the melting of the surface of the 
ice, and occasionally it is blown there by the action of the wind ; in either 
case it is salt, and can never be mistaken for the product of a berg. 

Fred took an ice-auger and endeavored to ascertain the thickness of 
the floe, but after boring to a depth of eleven feet he gave up the attempt. 
Captain Jones said he might easily go down twenty feet without finding 
bottom, and George reminded him that arctic explorers -had found ice 
upward of forty feet thick.' Weyprecht and Payer, in the voyage of the 
Tegeihoff, reported a depth of forty-seven feet in the ice which surrounded 
the ship in her last winter in the North ; this great thickness shows the 
effect of long continued and intense cold. If the congelation sets in early 
iu the beginning of an arctic winter, and the weather is steadily cold, with- 
out wind, the water becomes chilled to such an extent that a few more 
weeks and a few more degrees of cold would convert the entire ocean 
around the pole into a solid mass. 

Liberty was given to half the crew to go out on the ice and amuse 
themselves in any way they liked; but it was understood that they should 
return with all speed at a signal from the ship. They had a good time, 
chasing each other like school-boys at play, climbing on the iceberg, sliding 
wherever there was a smooth surface favorable to that amusement, and 
searching for shells and pieces of drift-wood. The latter sport was 
mainly left to Fred and George, as it was more scientific than exciting, 
and the sailors were not specially interested in it. George picked up a 
piece of drift-wood similar to what had been found on Herald and 
Wrangell Islands, and with the help of one of the men carried it to the 
ship. Commander Branson said it demonstrated that the ice was formed 
in the part of the Arctic Ocean west of Behring Strait ; its position, to- 



HUNTING ON THE ICE. 157 

gether with the iceberg imbedded in it, was an indication of an easterly 
current which might prove exactly what they wanted to find. 

While George was busy with the drift-wood, Fred, who had abandoned 
the ice-anger, proceeded to investigate the berg from which the blocks had 
already been cut and carried to the ship. With considerable difficulty he 
climbed to the top, cutting steps for his feet at every advance and narrow- 
ly escaping a serious fall. A few minutes after he stood upon the sum- 
mit, and waved his hat as a signal of triumph, a large slice broke from the 
farther end of the berg and slid down with a tremendous crash. This was 
a warning of the peril of his position, and he prudently descended to the 
surface of the floe. Safely at the bottom, he realized the force of what 
he had heard and read, that an iceberg is not to be depended on at any 
time, and should be approached and mounted with caution. 

A commotion among the men who had strayed to the farther end of 
the berg attracted the youth's attention, and he hastened to ascertain the 
cause. He had not long to wait. 

"A bear! a bear!" said one of the sailors who came running from the 
group. 

" And a big one, too !" said another, who was following close behind 
his comrade. 

ISTone of the sailors had any weapons, and Fred was without his gun. 
The major and the Doctor, together with the commander, were walking on 
the ice not far from the ship, engaged in investigating it, and not one of 
them had anything to shoot with. 

"Bring the rifles!" shouted all three of the gentlemen at nearly the 
same instant. Soon the rifles were in their hands, and they started for the 
game. 

The bear seemed to understand the situation, and o-ave them a Ions; 
chase. He could move faster than his biped pursuers, and every minute 
the distance between them increased. Finding there was no hope of over- 
taking him, Commander Bronson dropped on one knee and took a long 
shot, but without perceptible effect. The bear kept on as though nothing 
had happened, and the chase was abandoned at the end of half a mile. 
The Doctor said he was reminded of a similar chase after a bear on the 
ice near the Siberian coast, a few years before ; he followed the animal 
for at least Ave miles, and the brute seemed to lead him on for the pur- 
pose of tantalizing him. 

Whenever he stopped and gave up the chase, the bear halted and came 
towards him, almost within range. Then the bear would stop and look at 
him; the Doctor would creep forward, and when about ready for a shot, 



158 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

the bear invariably turned and made off. Then the Doctor followed on a 
while ; when he stopped the bear stopped ; and thus the performance was 
repeated several times. Finally he took a long shot, with little expectation 
of hitting his object; he aimed high, to allow for the course of the bullet, 
and to his surprise brought the bear to the ice and disabled him. Then 
he followed up and finished the bear with a shot through the skull. The 
first bullet had broken a fore-leg and opened one of the large veins, but in 
spite of the severe wound the bear rushed at him as he approached, and 
was only stopped by the final shot. 

Our friends looked about for seals and walruses, but none w r ere to be 
seen. It is probable that, if any were in the vicinity, they had been scared 
off by the noise on the ice, as these creatures are very wary and must be 
pursued in silence. There's an old saying, " you don't hunt ducks with a 
brass band," and it may well apply to seals and walruses. Quiet must be 
observed when pursuing these animals on the ice, as they slip into the 
water at the least sound. Wljen you have a walrus harpooned you may 
shout as much as you please, and you can do the same thing when killing 
seals with a club, after their retreat to the water is cut off. 

A gun from the ship drew attention to the signal at the peak, and 
everybody went on board without delay. The dogs had been let out for a 
run on the ice, and there was some trouble in getting them in again ; they 
resisted all control, until one of the drivers came to the gang-plank and 
threw out a few pieces of seal-meat. The w T hole drove then went aboard 
with a rush, and had their usual quarrel over the repast on the ship's deck. 

The recall had been made in consequence of the clearing up of the 
fog and the prospect of being able to make a farther advance. When 
all were safe on board, the Vivian cast off from the floe and the Gambetta 
followed her example. A few scattered cakes and floes were visible in 
the north-east, but there was none as large as the one to which they had 
been fastened, and the captain considered the opportunity too good to be 
lost. 

The ships made about thirty-five or forty miles on their course, and 
then the drift-ice became so thick as to necessitate caution. The captain 
mounted to the crow's-nest, and in an hour or so he announced that he 
could make out the ice-blink filling the horizon in the distance. It ex- 
tended so far that he thought it indicated an end of their progress under 
sail for the present. 

Steadily the ice increased, and in ten or twelve hours after the blink 
was discovered they found themselves hemmed in on all sides. The floes 
were large, and the lanes became so narrow that sailing was out of the 



A TANTALIZING PURSUIT. 



159 




160 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN."* 

question. Once more the ships were tied up, and as a matter of precaution 
Captain Jones ordered the Vivian to be warped into a little nook on one 
side of a floe, where the chances of being "nipped" were • greatly dimin- 
ished. 

"We are now," said the captain, "about as far to the north as we can 
expect to get by sailing. In a few hours we shall probably be frozen in, 
and must trust to the currents to carry us on our way. The wind is in our 
favor, and I think the ice is carrying us towards the pole." 

Then he ordered soundings to be made on the side of the ship farthest 
from the ice. The lead showed forty-five fathoms of water, with muddy 
bottom ; after the depth had been ascertained the lead was again cast, in 
order to ascertain the drift of the ice, and consequently of the ship. This 
proved to be north-east; the wind was blowing from the south, and conse- 
quently the drift was not exactly in accordance with the wind, and showed 
the existence of a current. 

During the night the ice closed in more firmly than before, and the 
drift to the north-east continued. Observation at noon the next day 
showed their position, latitude 74° 2(y north, longitude 172° lS / w r est; and 
it was practically at this point they were enclosed by the ice and held firmly 
in its grasp.' 

And now began a period of monotony which we will not attempt to. 
record day by day. Such a narrative w r ould be tedious, and could not 
differ materially from the stories that many navigators have given us in 
the accounts of their hibernation in the arctic regions. Our friends fol- 
lowed the example of Kane, Parry, De Long, M ; Clintock, and other arctic 
explorers, and proceeded to make their preparations for the season of long- 
continued cold. Lumber was brought from below for building a house 
over the deck ; the structure was made as close as possible, in order to 
keep out the cold, and a sufficient pitch was given to the roof to let the 
snow slide off as fast as it fell. In the centre the roof was supported by 
stout rafters, and the space was made so roomy that it virtually added an- 
other deck to the ship. The dogs were allowed the run of this enclosed 
space at certain hours of the day, but the most of their time was passed 
on the ice, where shelters were erected for them. They were not long in 
finding out the hour for meals. It was the custom to feed them at four 
in the afternoon, and when the marine signal of. eight bells was given 
they walked up the gang-plank and indicated their readiness for duty. 
Had they been the patrons of a well-regulated boarding-house they could 
not have been more prompt. 

The dog-shelters were made of boards, like the housing of the deck. 



A WINTER RESIDENCE AMONG THE ESKIMOS. 



161 




11 



162 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

Fred and George wanted to have some lints of snow or ice, and with the 
assistance of the dog-drivers they constructed some. It required a good 
deal of engineering, as the Chukchees are nut to be compared with the 
Eskimos in this kind of work ; in fact, the Eskimo snow-hut is the finest 
dwelling of the kind in the whole world. Fred and George made use of 
the drawings given by Captain Hall, and others familiar with the Eskimos, 
and then projected their edifices as an architect makes his plans. Every 
block was hewn from the ice, as a block of stone is cut for a .building; the 
joints were cemented with water; a tunnel was made for the entrance, on 
the same plan as in Greenland ; and altogether the huts, when completed, 
were highly creditable to the builders. 

We will describe the mode of construction of the Eskimo snow-hut bv 
telling how our friends made theirs. 

They levelled a space on the ice to form the floor, and in order to 
have as little transportation as possible for their material they selected 
a spot close to a solid hummock. The Eskimos use blocks of snow which 
have been packed hard by the wind, but as these w T ere not available, our 
friends used ice, winch they quarried from the hummock. As before 
stated, each block was carefully shaped before being set in its place ; 
George attended to the cutting of the blocks, assisted by one of the 
drivers, while Fred and the other driver performed the work on the hut. 

The first hut they built was about ten feet in diameter at the base, and 
was intended to be six feet clear on the inside. Of course the centre of 
the dome was the only point where this height was maintained. Opposite 
the entrance the floor was raised about six inches higher than in the other 
half of the hut; this raised space was understood to be parlor and bed- 
room, while the other was more practical in its uses, and served as kitchen, 
and a lodging for the dogs when they chose to come in. The dogs, by-the- 
way, seemed to understand from the outset that they were prohibited from 
mounting to the parlor, and only on a few occasions did they ever attempt it. 

The first row of blocks was laid with mathematical accuracy, the circle 
having been formed by means of a string fastened to a peg in the centre 
of the prepared floor; then the second row was laid a little inside the 
line of the first ; and then the rows followed in regular succession till the 
top was reached. Three holes for windows were left at different eleva- 
tions ; two of these were covered with plates of clear ice an inch or more 
in thickness, while the third was closed with the membrane of the stomach 
of a deer. It was found that these windows admitted sufficient light for 
all practical purposes, but the ice-windows were not to be relied on during 
the period that the sun came above the horizon. 



BUILDING AN ICE-HUT. 



163 



The youths made a ludicrous blunder in their first effort at building a 
hut. Fred was on the inside, assisting in laying the blocks in place; his 
attendant native was outside the hut, engaged in handiug up the blocks 
as they were received from George and his assistant. As they were about 
to put the final block on the top it occurred to George that they had quite 
forgotten to make a door for entrance. They had planned it originally, 
but in the excitement of laying out the circle the door had been omitted, 
and was not again thought of. And there was Fred, almost walled up 
inside without means of escape ! 

The ice-axes soon remedied this oversight, and Fred was able to come 
to daylight, after assisting in covering the dome with its cap. Then the 
tunnel leading up to the door was finished, and the youths were ready for 
the inspection of their work. 

They held a reception the next day at noon. Calls were made by alii 
the officers of the ship, and each visitor was regaled with a cup of hot tea 
from a kettle prepared on ship- 
board, and kept at the right temper- ;g Jp c ft*^ 
ature by an alcohol lamp. George 

said they were not quite up to the 1111111%. 

nativ'e custom of burning oil in a 
stone lamp, but they might come to I 
it in time. J 

George was ready to answer all 3j 
inquiries relative to the construction 3 
of huts of this sort; he said they 
were peculiar to the arctic regions, 
and were rarely, if ever, seen in the 

torrid zone ; Stanley and other African explorers made no mention of 
them, and therefore it was to be inferred that snow-huts were not built 
in the dark continent. Even in the far North they do not last through 
the summer, as the sun quickly destroys them ; the snow-hut is only a 
winter residence, and the Eskimos take to skin tents during the warm 
months. 

The winter huts of the Eskimos are usually on the ice, or near it, on 
account of the convenience of fishing or sealing, but their summer tents 
are on the land. For a winter residence they select a bay where the ice 
is not likely to drift, and the nearer they can get to the haunts of the seal 
the better they like it. It not unfrequently happens that the ice under 
a village breaks up in a storm ; in such case the occupants must run for 
safety, and they are not always able to do this, especially if a severe gale 




ESKIMO STOXE LAMP AND FIRE. 



164 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



is blowing, and there is a general disruption of the floe. In some in- 
stances whole villages have been swept away, and in others only a few 
individuals escaped to tell how the rest were lost. 




mk, K 




A HUT SUBMERGED. 



Fred and George spent the most of the afternoon in their ice-hut to 
receive the congratulations of their friends and become accustomed to the 
novelty of the situation. When evening came they abandoned it to the 
dog-drivers, and on the next day it was the object of much interest to the 
sailors, who were allowed to visit it in small parties till all had been given 
an opportunity of inspection and criticism. 

Evidently the youths were not in a hurry to occupy the new house they 
had built, and they frankly admitted that the cabin of the Vivian was 
greatly to be preferred. " But we'll build more of them," said Fred, " in 
case they are needed for sheltering the dogs, or for any other purpose. 
We've got our hands in now, and can turn them off very quickly. We can 
make a whole village of these huts, and connect them by short galleries, as 
the Eskimos do, so that we may step from one to another without going 
out-of-doors." 

The early part of the hibernation of the ships was not at all dangerous, 
as the ice-floes were not crowding each other, and there were no gales to 



A WALRUS-HUNT. 165 

break up the fields and create the commotions that we have already men- 
tioned. Sometimes the wind shifted suddenly, but in most cases there was 
a calm interval of a few hours. The weather steadily increased in cold- 
ness, and by the middle of September the thermometer at night was fre- 
quently below zero. 

Every day the dog-teams were harnessed for sledge journeys over the 
ice as far as practicable. Visits were exchanged with the officers of the 
Gamhetta, and both ships made preparations fur long explorations as soon 
as circumstances favored. Fred and George tried their hands at driving 
the dogs, and had man) 7 overturns and mishaps. No serious accident oc- 
curred, however, and they counted their bruises as the honorable scars of 
their warfare with the regions of ice. 

Bears and seals were occasionally seen, and when seen they were pur- 
sued with varying success. One day a returning dog-team reported wal- 
ruses on the ice near some open water six or eight miles to the south ; of 
course there was a desire on the part of everybody to go in pursuit of them, 
and early next morning a party was off. Two dog-teams were taken, and 
it was arranged that if any walruses were killed the other teams should be 
sent out as soon as intelligence could be brought to the ship. 

They succeeded in killing three walruses out of a dozen or more that 
were making themselves comfortable on the surface of a floe. The sledges 
were loaded with the meat, and Fred started back with them ; a sharp 
lookout had been kept on board ship for the hunters, so that Fred and his 
sledges were discovered before he had made half the distance homeward. 
The flag of the Vivian was dipped three times, as had been arranged, and 
then the youth mounted to the top of a hummock, and with the small flag 
that he carried he told the result of the day's sport. In a few minutes the 
extra teams were off, and making the best of their way in the direction of 
the hunting region. The dogs enjoyed the run immensely, and needed no 
urging; in many places the ice was rough, but by making occasional 
detours the sledges found a fairlv ffood road. 

Fred did not return to where the walruses were killed, as it was too 
late in the day when he reached the ship to make a second journey. The 
sledges were loaded with all they could carry, and by dark all were safely 
at the side of the Vivian. The Doctor said they had been obliged to leave 
several hundred pounds of walrus-meat, and hoped to be able to bring it in 
the next morning; Captain Jones thought there would be very little use in 
going for it, as the flesh could be scented a long distance by the bears, and 
the chances were in favor of their devouring every ounce of it before the 
hunters could get around to the spot. 

11* 



166 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" If that's the case," said George, " we'll go for it anyway, and if the 
bears have eaten up the meat they will be likely to stay around for more, 
and we can have the fun of a bear-hunt." 

The suggestion was accepted as a sensible one, and early in the morn- 
ing the party was off. It consisted of the major, with George and Fred, 
and they agreed that, as the suggestion came from George, he should have 
the first shot at the bear in case they encountered one. 

As they approached the scene of the previous day's sport they pro- 
ceeded very cautiously; every few minutes the youths mounted to the 
summit of a hummock and swept the horizon with a glass, in the hope of 
discovering a bear. Their patience was rewarded, as a bear was revealed 
where the dead walrus lay; he was so busy with his breakfast that he did 
not look up for an instant, and the major thought it would be easy to ap- 
proach him. 

The sledge was left with the dogs behind a hummock; the animals had 
not seen or scented the bear, otherwise it would have been a difficult mat- 
ter to keep them quiet. The three hunters went forward with their rifles, 
George taking the lead in accordance with the agreement. 

They crept along, shielding themselves as best they could, though there 
was little need of precaution, since the bear was so intently occupied 
with his feast of walrus-meat. Keeping the wind in their favor, so that 
he should not discover their presence by his sense of smell, they reached a 
little hummock not more than twenty yards from where the bear stood. 

"Don't be in a hurry," whispered the major; "get a good aim at his 
heart, and rest your rifle against the hummock to steady it. Wait till you 
have a first-rate chance, as he won't be in a hurry to move off." 

George obeyed the major's directions, and secured an excellent aim 
before firing. 

As the report of his rifle rang out, the major and Fred sprang from 
their concealment, and were ready to give their assistance in case it was 
wanted. 

The bear fell on his side, but was up in an instant. lie rose to his 
hind-feet, and thus gave the opportunity for George's companions. They 
fired almost simultaneously, and the bear dropped once more. Then 
George ran forward and smashed the skull of- the brute with another bul- 
let. The brief and brilliant encounter was over, and the party had ex- 
changed the meat of the walrus for that of the bear. 

While they were engaged in skinning their prize and preparing it for 
the homeward journey, Fred discovered a large bear on the ice not more 
than a quarter of a mile away. The youth desired to go on another hunt, 



A HAPPY FAMILY. 



167 



II III 







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ill 

V V ;| iH 

■litl 



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I i 



I 



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IliimilBmi 




f: Mr 



m&j. 



188 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



but was restrained by the major, who argued that they already had as 
much game as they could take care of; and if they killed another bear 
they would be obliged to leave him for his brethren and the wolves to 
devour. 

"Do bears eat each other?" said Fred, in a tone of surprise. 

"Certainly they do," was the reply; "they kill and devour one another 
in their battles, and if a bear is killed by a hunter, and abandoned, he will 
be speedily devoured by his kindred. They are not at al,l fastidious in 
their tastes, and if the thing was not a physical inconvenience, I believe 
a bear would eat himself up, and pick all his bones so clean that there 
wouldn't be enough flesh on them to bait a mouse-trap with. 

"And if the bears didn't come around, the wolves would be sure to 
find their way here before many hours. The meat that an arctic wolf will 
decline to devour hasn't yet been discovered." 

So the solitary bear on the ice was left to himself, and no doubt he 
fared sumptuously on what the hunters left on their return to the ship. 




ARCTIC WOLVES. 



, 



TAKING SOUNDINGS THROUGH THE ICE. 169 



CHAPTER XII. 

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SUN. — INCIDENTS OF HIBERNATION. — THE AURORA 

9BOREALIS. 

^T^HE ships continued day by day to drift with the ice as it was borne 
-*- by the wind and currents. A good deal depended on the wind, and 
fortunately it was mostly from the southern quarter of the horizon ; some- 
times, when not a breath was blowing, soundings were made through the 
ice in order to ascertain the force of the current. At such times the lead 
was dropped to the bottom, and allowed to remain there until the slope of 
the line became so great that it was time to take it in. Commander Bron- 
son applied one of the problems of Euclid to the demonstration on the 
drift of the ship, and perhaps the knowledge of his system may be of use 
to others. 

In the first place, the lead was dropped perpendicularly to the bottom, 
and the length of line paid out was carefully noted. Then, as the ship 
drifted with the ice, the observations were made at a hole through the ice. 
The line was run out until it sloped off at an angle of forty-five degrees. 
The additional line given out was noted, and thus the perpendicular and 
the hypothenuse were known, together with the angle between them. 
Henceforth it was easy enough to find the length of the base; the latter 
represented the distance over which they had travelled, and as the time 
occupied was carefully kept, the daily drift of the ship could be averaged. 

It could not be exactly obtained in this way, as the drift might vary 
from one hour to another, but it was near enough for all practical pur- 
poses. Similar observations were made on board the Gambetta, and at 
hours different from those of the Vivian ; the result of the observations 
was exchanged from time to time, and careful comparisons were made. 
The truth of the old adage that " two heads are better than one " was well 
exemplified in this case. 

Sounding leads and dredges were frequently used for ascertaining the 
character of the bottom of the ocean, and the results of the dredging were 
sometimes quite interesting. Usually the dredge brought up nothing but 



170 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



soft mud, but once in a while it revealed curious forms of marine shells, 
the most of them so small as to need a microscope for their investigation. 
One day a tiny branch of coral was secured, but whether it was formed 
where they found it, or had been drifted northward from warmer regions, 
nobody could tell. No fishes were caught, but for all that there might 
have been an abundance of them in the water. It would require a good 
deal of stupidity as well as sluggishness for a fish to be taken in a dredge 
which was moving so slowly as to seem almost at rest. Fred tried several 
times to catch something on a hook which he lowered through a hole 
drilled in the ice, after carefully baiting it with a piece of seal-fat. But 
his efforts were not rewarded with a bite, nor even a nibble. 




IN WINTER QUARTERS. 



The depth of water varied from thirty-five to fifty fathoms, being rare- 
ly less than the former figure or more than the latter. The observations 
on the depth of water corresponded very nearly with those made on the 
Jeannette. It is probable that the Arctic Ocean is nowhere of the great 
depth of the Atlantic or the Pacific, though it may have been much deep- 
er than at present in ages long gone by. The mud that forms the bottom 
has been drifted down from the numerous rivers flowing into the Arctic 
Sea, and has gradually accumulated, just as the mud of the Mississippi 
River has partially filled the Gulf of Mexico. 

Fred and George were anxious to emulate the examples of other navi- 
gators and domesticate young seals and walruses, but they did not have the 
opportunity. It is doubtful if they could have kept these strange pets for 
any length of time, as their surroundings were. not favorable. A walrus or 



A DANGEROUS POSITION. 



171 




PERILS OF THE POLAR SEA. 



172 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

seal in the cabin would not have been an agreeable companion, while oat- 
side it would have been liable to escape, or be eaten up by the dogs. 

Next to having one of these creatures, George concluded he would like 
the skin of a bear without a bullet-hole in it. Now the way has not been 
found for shooting a bear without breaking his skin, and the youth deter- 
mined, with the proper authority, to set a trap for one. Permission was 
readily given, on condition that the trap should be far enough from the 
ship to be out of reach of the dogs. It was thought that a in He and a half 
would be a sufficient distance, and the trap was set accordingly. 

It was one of the largest bear- traps sold in the San Francisco market, 
and required all the strength of two men to press the spring downward 
far enough to bring the catch into its place. It was baited with a piece 
of seal- meat; the snow and ice around it were arranged to appear as 
innocent and undisturbed as possible, and theu the trappers returned to 
the ship. 

The next morning word was brought to George that a bear was in the 
trap, and that young gentleman, accompanied by Fred, lost no time in 
going to look at it. Sure enough, a bear had been taken, but he had also 
taken the trap and walked off with it. There was a strong chain, about 
two yards long, attached to the trap, and at the end of the chain was a 
"grapple," or three -pronged hook, like the anchor for a row-boat. They 
could see where the chain had been dragged over the ice, and had fre- 
quently caught and compelled the bear to stop to disengage it. 

They followed up the trail of the chain with no great difficulty; some- 
times they lost it for a few minutes, but soon discovered it again through 
the marks made by the hook, and also through occasional drops of blood. 
About two miles from where the trap had been set they came up to the 
bear, who had become badly entangled and was tugging violently at the 
chain with his free foot. He had been caught by the right fore-foot; evi- 
dently he had stepped fully upon the trap, and gave the jaws an excellent 
chance for closing in on him. 

When they approached him he growled furiously, and pulled harder 
than ever in his efforts to escape. Thus pulling, he succeeded in loosening 
the chain from the ice, and as soon as he had done so .he performed one of 
those feats of intelligence for which the polar bear is famous. 

Recognizing that the chain was the cause of his frequent detentions, he 
stood upright on his hind -feet and gave the confined paw a twirl which 
wound the chain around it close to the trap. A foot or more of the chain 
hung down, and this he seized in his mouth and then started off over the 
ice as fast as his three unencumbered feet would carry him. 



A TEIAL OF PATIENCE. 



173 




GREENLAND NATIVE WATCHING FOR A SEAL. 



174: THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

Onr yonng friends looked on in astonishment at this manifestation of 
sagacity ; for at least a minute neither of them spoke or moved. 

Fred broke silence by asking George what he would do with the skin 
of that bear. 

" Better catch it first," was the reply ; " and we're evidently a long way 
yet from doing so." 

" 1 don't see how he can be taken without making a hole in his skin," 
said Fred ; "and unless we're quick about it we shall lose our trap." 

They followed as fast as they could, and luckily for them the bear 
could not make good progress with one leg disabled. But they had a 
chase of at least half an hour before coming up to him ; he rose to growl 
his defiance at them, and this caused him to drop the chain, so that at his 
very next step forward the hook caught on the ice and held him. 

"Never mind the whole skin," said George; " let us finish him as quick 
as we can, and unless the holes are too bad we can sew them up." 

The trap, with its hook caught in the ice, served the very important 
purpose of preventing the bear from running away, and also of rushing on 
his assailants. Thus protected from danger, the young sportsmen made 
quick work with their rifles at short range, and gave an agreeable addition 
to the stock of provisions on the ship. 

On the way back over the ice George repeated a story, which was first 
told by Sir Francis M'Clintock, of a native of Western Greenland who was 
out one day examining his seal-nets. He found a seal in one of the nets, 
and while stooping on the ice over his prize he received a heavy slap on 
the back. He supposed it was from his companion, and paid no attention 
to it ; a second and harder slap made him look around, when he found that 
instead of his companion it was a grim old bear. The bear took no fur- 
ther notice of the man, but proceeded to tear the seal out of the net and 
eat it ; the native did not stay to see the end of the meal, through fear that 
the bear might not be averse to human flesh, and he had no wish to serve 
as an ursine piece de resistance. 

They met the dog- sledges when about half-way to the ship. Their 
movements had been watched from the cross-trees, and as soon as they had 
despatched the bear the order had been given for the sledges to start to 
bring in the meat. Of course there was no lack of bear-meat as long as the 
catch of the morning lasted ; before it was gone another bear was taken, 
and from that time onward they were fairly supplied with fresh provisions. 
There were bears, seals, and walruses in almost regular rotation, though 
the youths thought that sometimes they stuck too long to a single kind 
without change; but you cannot always have your hunting as you would 



ICEBERG AND GLACIER. 



175 




176 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

like it. and in this respect they were far better off than many arctic voy- 
agers who preceded them — thanks to the improved weapons for pursuing 
large game. 

Each day the snn remained below the horizon longer than on the pre- 
ceding one, and in a little while the nights were longer than the days. 
The decrease continued, and by-and-by came the time when the sun only 
peered above the line of ice for a moment, and then sank below it. 
Everybody was on deck to see it, as they all knew the snn would not re- 
appear again for nearly two months. The next day there was a flush of 
light on the horizon, and Fred thought he caught a glimpse of the upper 
edge of the orb's disc, but according to the Doctor's calculation he' was 
mistaken. 

Even after the sun failed to appear there was a period of light every 
day for more than a fortnight. It was the 17th of November when they 
had their last view of the sun, and the observations showed that they were 
very near the 77th parallel of latitude. 

"The farther north you go," said the Doctor to the youths, "the 
sooner will the sun disappear in the autumn, and the later will he return 
in the spring. For example, when Captain Tyson was wintering on board 
the Polaris, in latitude Sl° 38', the sun disappeared October 17th, and was 
not visible for one hundred and thirty -five days. The following year, 
while he was drifting south on the ice-floe, and was about latitude 70°, 
the sun re-appeared January 19th, after an absence of eighty-three days. 
He does not record the day of its disappearance, which must have been 
farther to the north, as the ice-floe was drifting steadily southward." 

"The popular idea," said George, " is that they have six months of 
day and six months of night at the North-pole every year." 

" At the pole itself," replied the Doctor, " the sun would have but two 
motions to the spectator, and the popular idea might not be so far out of 
the way. For six months of the year the sun would be moving in a series 
of circles in the heavens, and then for six months it would make a similar 
series of circles below the horizon. There have been interminable dis- 
cussions on this subject, and much divergence of opinion, and the only 
way to settle the question will be for somebody to go to the pole and 
make an observation." 

" I remember," said Fred, " a classmate of mine at college who was 
constantly bringing up a perplexing question for discussion. One of his 
theories was that there could not be 'sound' where there was no ear to 
hear it ; and he used to argue that if a tree should fall in a forest a hun- 
dred miles from anything with ears no sound would be produced. 



AN AECTIC EXPLORING PARTY. 



177 




CAPTAIN C. F. HALL, WITH TWO ESKIMO COMPANIONS. 



12 



ITS THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" He would argue that question at great length, and whenever he got 
anybody to agree with him he would shift to the other side and have the 
discussion over again. Another question he used to ask was, 

" What would be the latitude and longitude of a man at the North- 
pole, and his points o£ compass ? 

" No matter what answer you made he would dispute its correctness, 
and proceed to demonstrate your error. He said he did all this talking 
in order to make himself ready in debate, and he kept it irp so constantly 
that we all set him down as a nuisance. We used to hope he would go 
to the North-pole and see for himself, and nobody ever wished him to 
hurry in coming back." 

"But how would we recognize the pole in case we were there?" 
George inquired. 

"That could be done," was the Doctor's reply, "by means of scientific 
instruments, though some astronomers think otherwise. Captain Hall 
was confident of reaching the pole when he sailed on his last expedition, 
and in reply to the questions on this subject he used to say, ' on reaching 
that point called the North-pole the North-star will be directly overhead. 
Without an instrument, with merely the eye, a man can define his position 
when there. Some astronomers tell me I will find a difficulty in deter- 
mining my position. It will be the easiest thing in the world. Suppose 
I arrive at the North-pole, and the sun has descended. Suppose there is 
an island at the North-pole; around it is the sea. I see a star upon the 
horizon. If I were to remain a thousand years at the pole, that star will 
remain on the horizon without varying one iota in height. Then, again, 
when I am at the pole, on the 23d of June, I take the latitude of the sun : 
just 23^° high at one and all hours. Five days before the 24th of 
June, and five days after, with the finest instruments we have, you cannot 
determine one iota of change. Therefore, you will see that it is the easiest 
thing in the world to determine when yon arrive at the North-pole. The 
phenomena displayed there will be deeply interesting, provided there is 
land there; and I am satisfied, from the traditions I have learned from 
the Eskimos, that I will find land there.' 

" Captain Hall had not the slightest; doubt that he would be able to 
recognize the geographical pole if he once reached it, and other explorers 
have been equally certain of doing so. The measurements of the angles 
of certain stars with each other, and with the sun and moon, would be 
the first necessities, and the position of the North- star should be care- 
fully observed. But the North -star would not be directly overhead, as 
asserted by Captain Hall, at least not for the astronomer, though it might 



A TELEGRAPH LINE OVER THE ICE. 179 

suffice for the man unprovided with instruments, or ignorant of their 
use." 

One of the youths asked what was the exact position of the North-star. 

" That depends upon the time of the year and the relative positions of 
the sun and earth," was the reply. " The polar star is one of the thirty- 
six fundamental stars used for observations by astronomers and naviga- 
tors, and its position at any time of the year is shown in the " Nautical 
Almanac." The old astronomers made long catalogues of the stars. 
Hipparchus, one hundred and thirty years before the Christian Era, and 
without any instruments to aid him, composed a catalogue showing the 
positions of nearly eleven hundred stars, with their ascension and declen- 
sion. Ptolemy, two hundred and sixty-seven years later, made a similar 
and larger catalogue, and this was extended by Albatengi, an Arab as- 
tronomer, seven hundred and eighty-three years after Ptolemy. Three or 
four other catalogues appeared from that time until 1712, when the cata- 
logue of Flamsteed, an English astronomer, came out, with an exact loca- 
tion of two thousand nine hundred and nineteen stars. Since Flamsteed's 
time a good many catalogues have been made, and now we have the posi- 
tions of nearly a hundred thousand stars in both hemispheres. But, as I 
before said, the astronomers and navigators have settled upon thirty-six 
stars which are sufficient for their purposes; every year the nautical and 
astronomical almanacs publish the positions, variations, ascensions, and 
longitudes of these stars, so that they are ready for use at any moment. 
This number is quite sufficient for the purposes of science all over the 
globe, or at any rate to all parts where man has been able to go." 

" Suppose you drop stellar science and come to lunch," said the major, 
whose mind had a practical turn. Prompt assent w T as given to his sug- 
gestion by a simultaneous movement in the direction of the cabin. 

Before the sun went altogether below the horizon for his hibernation, 
Fred and George, with the assistance of two of the younger officers of the 
Gambetta, erected a telegraph line between the ships, for convenience of 
communication in case of accident during the prolonged night. A com- 
plete apparatus for the telephone and telegraph had been brought by botli 
ships; each had a good supply of the kind of wire used by armies in the 
field, and it was arranged so that it could be strung very rapidly on light 
poles specially prepared for the purpose. The ships were about a mile 
apart, and the line was easily set up by fastening the poles in the tops of 
hummocks along the way. Floles were cut in the ice to the depth of three 
or four inches, and then each pole was firmly fixed in its place by tamping 
the fine ice into the hole and pouring water upon it. The telephone was 



180 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



used in preference to the telegraph, and it was found that in the dry air 
of the arctic winter the insulation was perfect. Occasionally the atmos- 
pheric electricity gave them some trouble, and doubtless if the line had 
been a long one, the difficulties from this cause would have been great. 

The electrical conditions of the atmosphere were dependent on the 
aurora; when the latter was fine there was a great deal of disturbance, 
and when there was no aurora there was rarely any electricity perceptible. 
The Doctor said this was the case in all parts of the world, and established 
beyond question the cause of the aurora. Long before the invention of 





AN ARCTIC AURORA. 



the telegraph it had been attributed to electrical causes by scientific men ; 
this idea had been ridiculed by many, but since the spread of the wires 
over the globe, and the observations in consequence, all opposition to it had 
ceased. 

Sometimes for days together there was no aurora, and then again it 
would be almost continuous for a week or more. Naturally our young 
friends desired to investigate this phenomenon, and asked the Doctor 
about it. 

" I am not an authority on the aurora borealis, or northern lights," was 
his reply, "and can only give you what others have said on the subject. 



THE AURORA BOREALIS. 181 

For centuries it has been studied by scientific men, and there is no longer 
any doubt that it conies from electricity." 

" I suppose it is the electric light passing through the air," said one 
of the youths. " It goes irregularly, and makes the waves and flashes that 
we see." 

"According to Professor Loomis and others you are wrong," replied 
the Doctor. " The professor says that the light is rarely within forty-five 
miles of the earth, and usually is from one hundred to five hundred miles 
from it; consequently it is beyond our atmosphere, or only touches the 
most rarefied part of it. He describes one aurora that filled all the space 
above the earth, beginning at forty-live miles distance and ending at five 
hundred miles." 

" How do they find that out ?" 

" By observing the points from whicli an aurora is visible at the same 
time. These observations, when carefully noted and the result computed, 
will show the height and extent of the aurora. For example, the display 
of August 28, 1859, was observed simultaneously at a great many points; 
calculations showed that it was everywhere forty-six miles from the earth, 
and it extended to a height of five hundred and thirty-four miles. The 
luminous beams of light in this aurora were five hundred miles long, and 
from five to fifty miles in diameter. Other auroras have been measured 
in the same way, and the average height assigned to them is four hundred 
and fifty miles." 

" But I've seen the aurora behind the hills at home," said Fred, " and 
even here we see it close to the horizon." 

"Yes," replied the Doctor, "and you see the sun on the horizon, or set- 
ting or rising behind the hills. But do you suppose it is any nearer the 
earth for that reason than when it is high in the heavens ?" 

Fred admitted that his argument was fallacious, and that the appear- 
ance of the aurora near the earth was in appearance only. The Doctor 
explained, however, that sometimes on rare occasions the aurora might 
come within a few miles of the earth, but thus far no observer had ever 
discovered it within the highest range of the clouds. 

" The farther north you go," said Dr. Tonner, " the more brilliant are 
the auroras, at least in the Western Hemisphere. The phenomena prevail 
more in America than in Northern Europe and Asia ; they cover a large 
area of the heavens, but seem to be more numerous in the region of the 
magnetic pole than anywhere else. In the Southern Hemisphere there is 
a similar display known as the aurora australis. 

" As to their electrical origin we have other proofs than the effect on 



182 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



the magnetic needle and the telegraph wires. The auroral flashes are the 
same as those of a spark of electricity sent through rarefied air or through 







* 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF AURORAS. 



a vacuum. The fluorescence of the electric light is repeated in the aurora, 
and also — " 

" I beg pardon for interrupting," said George, " but what is meant by 
fluorescence 2" 

" There are certain substances," was the reply, " that seem perfectly 
transparent when seen in the solar light, but if you illumine them with an 



THE USES OF ELECTRICITY. 



183 



electric spark they appear to be self-luminous. When these substances are 
illumined by the auroral light they present the same appearance as though 
charged from an electrical machine. This property is called fluorescence. 

"Electricity develops heat," continued the Doctor, "when it passes 
through poor conductors, like wood and paper. In several instances the 
auroral influence has set fire to these substances, and the experiment has 
been made so often as to be well known to all scientists. In fact, all the 
effects of electricity have been obtained from the aurora— such as working 
telegraph instruments, making sparks of light, giving shocks to the animal 
system, and developing magnetism in soft iron." 

" But where does this electricity come from ?" inquired one of the lis- 
teners. " There must be a vast storehouse or factory for it somewhere." 

" That is yet a conundrum," the Doctor answered. " Some have sup- 
posed that the earth becomes charged with electricity to such a degree that 
it cannot longer retain it; the surplus is thrown off, and it is the discharge 
of this electricity that makes the aurora. It has been observed that the 
prevalence of auroras is in exact proportion to the presence or absence of 
spots on the sun; when there are many spots there are numerous auroras, 
and when the sun is 
free of spots there are 
few or none of them. 
Then, too, the influence 
of the positions of other 
planets has been noted, 
and the whole subject 
is full of mysteries and 
speculations." 

"We are getting 
into deep water," said 
George, " or rather we 
should be if there was 
less ice about us. / When 
we have time to spare 
we will set about devis- 
ing a machine where- 
by the electricity of the 

aurora borealis may be harnessed, and made to do duty in a practical 
way. We will make it run the dynamos to supply our houses and streets 
with electric light; it shall propel our machinery, and thus take the place 
of steam; it shall be used for forcing our gardens, in the way that elec- 




FRED S ELECTRIC NURSERY. 



184 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



tricity is supposed to make plants grow ; and it shall develop the brains 

of our statesmen and legislators, to make them wiser and better and of 

I 
more practical use than they are at present. Hens shall lay more eggs, 

cows must give cream in place of milk, trees shall bear fruit of gold or 
silver, tear-drops shall be diamonds, and the rocks of the fields shall be- 
come alabaster or amber. Wonderful things will be done when we get 
the electricity of the aurora under our control." 

"Yes," responded Fred, "babies shall be taken from the nursery and 
reared on electricity, which will be far more nutritions than their ordinary 
food. When the world is filled with giants nourished from the aurora, 
the ordinary mortal will tremble. We'll think it over, and see what we 
can do." 

And with this cautious suggestion the conversation was changed to a 
more commonplace topic. 




ARCHES OF AURORAL LIGHT. 



ARCTIC OBSERVATORIES. 185 



% 

« 



CHAPTER XIIL 

CHRISTMAS AND NEW-YEAR FESTIVITIES.— MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS.— THE 
" GAMBETTA " ON FIRE. 

IT^ORTUNE favored our friends in wind and weather. The beginning 
of the arctic winter was a period of intense cold, but unaccompanied 
by winds ; consequently the ice formed to a great depth, and was perfectly 
solid for many miles around. For two or three weeks after they entered 
the ice, and before it attained its winter thickness, there were frequent 
alarms that the floes were crushing and grinding together; but before the 
beginning of December there was little fear on this account. Holes were 
drilled in many places within a mile or more of the ships, for the purpose 
of ascertaining the thickness of the ice ; in no place was it less than thirty 
feet, and in several localities it measured nearly forty. Fred thought there 
was not the least danger of breaking through, and he regretted greatly that 
the surface was not smooth enough for skating, even if the intense cold 
would render that amusement possible. 

Observatories were established a little distance from the ship, and on 
each side of it, in order to keep a record of the cold. At each observatory 
there was a thermometer, graduated to tenths of a degree, and an anemom- 
eter by which the direction and velocity of the wind could be noted. Both 
observatories were visited every four hours, and this dirty was divided be- 
tween the major and the Doctor — the former assisted by George and the 
latter by Fred. A lantern of the "bull's-eye" pattern was carried by the 
observer on his round, and the raysyof this lantern, projected on the scale 
of the thermometer, enabled him to' read it without approaching near 
enough to affect the instrument by his presence. It was not an easy mat- 
ter to make entries in a note-book when clad in heavy furs, and with the 
hands encased in mittens, and Fred set his wits to work to devise a more 
convenient mode of making his records. 

Taking an alpenstock, or ice-staff, he marked upon it the degrees which 
were likely to comprise all the variations of the thermometer, and also a 
single degree divided into tenths. Then he arranged sliding rings or 
hoops which could move freely up or down the staff, but were held firmly 



186 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



in place by means of little knobs on the inside, passing through a slot in 
the wood. Similar rings were arranged for the points of compass and the 
velocity of the wind, and by means of these rings the whole record of a 
visit to one of the observatories conld be taken. A staff was arranged for 
each observatory, but it was found rather burdensome to carry two of these 
aids to the memory, and they settled down upon one. For the thermomet- 
rical readings a third ring was added, to show the variation between the 




A POLAR BEAR FAILING TO SEE THE POINT. 



two instruments, which rarely exceeded one or two tenths of a degree, 
while the record of the anemometer was made on a shorter staff, that was 
carried at the waist like a policeman's club. The staff, or alpenstock, was 
of material assistance in going over the ice in the arctic darkness, and it 
might serve as a weapon of defence, better than nothing at all, in case of 
interference by a bear. 

"In case you meet a bear," said the Doctor, "and he shows no disposi- 
tion to retreat, your best plan will be to hold your alpenstock like a spear, 



MELTING SNOW TO OBTAIN WATER. 



1ST 



and let him come on. Many a bear lias rushed to his death in this way. 
It requires a good deal of nerve to meet him with no better weapon than 
this, and I sincerely hope the emergency may never occur. 

" It is one of the favorite methods of hunting the bear in Norway ; 
the principal danger arises from the ability of the animal to turn the spear 
aside, which he can do with a single blow of his tremendous paw. The 
Norwegian hunter generally manages to get him so enraged that he is 
wholly occupied with rushing upon his intended victim, regardless of the 
consequences." 

Fresh water for the use of the ship's company was obtained by melting 
snow, and great care was exercised to prevent its mingling with the salt 
of the ice. Whenever there was a fresh fall of snow all hands were set 
to work to pile it up for future use, and for this purpose all that gathered 
on the roof of the deck-house and away from the floe-ice was preserved. 
Snow in the arctic regions is generally like fine sand ; the intense cold 
causes the moisture to congeal in the smallest particles, and not in the 
form in which we usually find it in the Northern States. " Goose-feather 
snow" is unusual in the Arc- 
tic Circle, except in the sum- 
mer months. 

The uses of steam on 
board the Vivian were vari- 
ous. The cabin and the quar- 
ters of the men were warmed 
by it, the ship having been 
fitted with steam-pipes and 
radiators fur this purpose. 
When it had performed this 
work, it escaped into a large 
tub that was always kept 
full of snow to be melted, as 
already mentioned ; another 
tub, where the steam was 
occasionally turned, was used 

for softening the food of the dogs, and there is no doubt that the brutes 
would have passed a vote of thanks to the engineer of the Vivian if the 
subject had been brought to their comprehension. The last of the wal- 
ruses which were taken before the ice closed for the winter were piled 
up near the ship, and from time to time huge chunks were chopped out 
with axes and taken to the softening tub for the dogs. In its frozen 




THE OLD WAT OP MELTING SNOW. 



188 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

condition, and with the skin perfectly solid, it was safe from their attacks. 
A frozen walrus hide is about as easy of penetration as a plate of iron, 
and the dogs never attempted to gnaw it ; but they kept a careful watch 
over the deposit, and whenever the men went to chop out a supply of 
food for them, they were in a state of great impatience until it was served. 

Visits were frequently exchanged between the Vivian and Gambetta, 
and the telephone was in daily use. As the end of December approached, 
preparations were made for celebrating that event, and also for a festivity 
on New-year's Day. It was arranged that Captain Girard and some of 
his officers would eat their Christmas dinner on the Vivian, and that they 
should give a return entertainment on New-year's Eve. 

In spite of the disadvantages of the surroundings, Fred and George 
determined to have a Christmas-tree, and readily obtained the permission 
of Commander Bronson to get it up. Trees were not to be found near 
their residence, and the forest was too far off to be invaded. George 
thought the best trees they could get would be the cross-trees; but these 
were unhappily too high in air for their purpose. They managed to 
improvise a tree by providing limbs for a small log recently found on the 
ice and brought to the ship by one of the hunting parties. Holes were 
bored in the log for the insertion of sticks which served as limbs ; the ends 
of the sticks were festooned with strips of bear and seal skin, together 
with bits of canvas and kindred things. George had prepared some 
oakum from old rope, which would have decorated the tree very well, but 
he was restrained by Captain Jones from using such inflammable mate- 
rial. The captain had a wholesome and proper dread of fire, and was not 
slow to see the risk they would run in trimming their Christinas- tree 
with oakum pickings; hence the less dangerous substances, although less 
picturesque. 

The number of candles was limited to twelve, and as a matter of precau- 
tion a man was stationed by the tree with a bucket of water, to be thrown 
over it in case of fire. Presents were hung to the limbs or piled at the 
foot of the tree, which was set in a thick plank at the end of the Vivian's 
cabin. Everybody received something, and to make the occasion as much 
as possible like a Christmas at home, a o box of goods originally intended 
for trading purposes among the Indians was opened and distributed. 
Gaudy handkerchiefs were received by several of the men, and sheath- 
knives, pocket-mirrors, combs, and kindred things by others. Christmas 
cards were sent to Commander Bronson, Major Clapp, and the Doctor, 
while Captain Jones was made happy with a picture of part of the upper 
rigging of a ship with the crow's-nest. On the sails of the ship were in- 






CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. 



189 




scribed the words, « Voyage in Search 

of Sir John Franklin;" the captain 

having frequently remarked that they 

hoped to come upon fresh traces of the 

work of that unfortunate navigator of 

the arctic regions. 

Jack and his fellow-musicians play- 
ed their liveliest airs as the curtain was 

removed from the tree, and George, in 

the character of Santa Glaus, distributed 

the gifts. All the officers of the Viv- 
ian, with the exception of the one in 
charge of the deck, were present at the unveiling of the tree; the men 
were admitted in groups of four to receive what the youths had prepared 
tor them. At four o'clock the ceremonies ended, and then the cabin 
was cleared, as the guests from the Gambetta were due an hour later 

Christmas cards were hung on the tree for the visitors, and then the 
veil was drawn again. As the guests arrived, each was provided with a 
button-hole bouquet made of tissue-paper and fastened to a wooden tooth- 
pick. 

Dinner passed off pleasantly, and there was a great deal of conversa- 
tion about home and home scenes at that time of the year. At a signal 



THE CAPTAIN'S SOUVENIR OF CHRISTMAS. 



190 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

from the captain the musicians were slipped into their places so quietly 
that the guests did not see them. 

" What a pity it is," said Captain Girard, " that we have no forest here, 
and cannot have an arbre de Noel, what you call ' Christmas-tree.' " 

" Yes," replied Commander Bronson, " but we can't expect the comforts 
of the civilized world while shut up here in the ice." 

George and Fred had carelessly left their seats a moment before, and 
waited a sign from their chief. As the latter finished his response to the 
French captain he nodded. 

Down came the curtain, the candles were lighted in a few seconds, the 
music struck up a lively air, and to the astonishment of the visitors they 
had an arbre de Noel before them ! 

The Frenchmen rose from their seats and gave a ringing plaudit for 
the Christmas-tree, which had taken them so completely by surprise. Then 
the cards that had been prepared for them were handed around ; each card 
bore the post-mark of Paris only one day before, and consequently the en- 
thusiasm of the recipients increased. 

Then there were songs in French and songs in English, and songs in 
both languages at once. One of the Frenchmen recited some verses of 
Beranger, and another gave a selection from one of the stately poems of 
Victor Hugo. The Christinas punch was brought in by the steward, and 
as it was placed on the table, George recited a portion of the lines of Dr. 
Holmes, " On Lending a Punch-bowl." He began with the stanza, 

" 'Twas on a dreary winter's eve, the night was closing dim, 
When old Miles Standish took the bowl and filled it to the brim. 
The little captain stood and stirred the posset with his sword, 
And all his sturdy men-at-arms were ranged around the board." 

In this way the Christmas in the Arctic Ocean was prolonged to a 
late hour. When the officers of the Gambetta returned to the ship it re- 
quired several minutes to muster the sailors who had accompanied them ; 
the Christmas in the forecastle had been quite as jolly as the one in the 
cabin, and the men of two nations were in no hurry to separate. 

For another week things went on quietly enough, and then came the 
festivity on board the Gambetta. All who had taken part in the enter- 
tainment of the officers of the French ship were invited to dinner, and it 
was announced that there would be a musical entertainment afterwards, 
for which Captain Jones was requested to grant leave to as many of his 
crew as could be spared from duty. 

The dinner must have taxed the renins of the steward and cook of the 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY ON THE "GAMBETTA." 



191 



Gambetta ; under the circumstances it was a gastronomic surprise, and 
evoked the admiration of all the guests. Out of the materials at their com- 
mand they had made a dinner which would do honor to Vefour or the Cafe 
Riche, and so neatly had they disguised the familiar bear and seal that no- 
body could guess at their character. Commander Bronson remarked that 




'THE LITTLE CAPTAIN .... STIRRED THE POSSET WITH HIS SWORD." 



if good dinners could take an explorer to the pole, the French would have 
discovered it long ago. 

The entertainment was given in the house on deck, as there was not 
room for it anywhere below. The deck-house was lighted with lanterns 
and festooned with flags, and there was an attempt to represent trees by 
means of green cloth stretched over fantastic frames. Two of the officers 
of the Gambetta were quite skilful with the pencil and brush, and had pre- 



192 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

pared some drawings on a large scale, which were fastened to the walls 
wherever the light was best. They represented home scenes of the New 
Year, and absorbed the attention of the visitors for several minutes. 

Of course it was impossible to heat the deck-house like the cabin below, 
and therefore the whole party donned its furs before going there. Seats 
had been placed for entertainers and guests in front of the stage, which 
consisted of a raised platform close to the main-mast ; the rest of the space 
was devoted to "standing-room only" for the crews of the two ships. 

Inasmuch as only a few of the visitors understood French, and there- 
fore dialogue would be tedious, the entertainment was a musical one; it 
consisted of a light operetta (" Un Jour de Fete") of one act and four 
characters, the latter played by three of the junior officers and one of the 
younger sailors. The sailor was made up as a girl, whose mother was per- 
sonated by one of the officers; considering all the disadvantages of the sit- 
uation, the "make-up" was quite successful. The feminine costume was 
donned outside a suit of fur; but the latter had been made of squirrel-skin 
and fitted closely, so that it did not add to the stoutness of the wearers to 
any disagreeable extent. The masculine costumes were also filled with 
furs, and as their wearers were naturally of goodly size the effect was 
ludicrous; but since the operetta was a comic one, anything that added 
to the hilarity was not objectionable. 

The thermometer was about ten degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, in the 
temporary theatre, and the breath of the audience rose like a cloud of 
steam. Frost gathered on the lips of the performers, and several times it 
choked their utterance; the girl in the play carried a fan, but she had 
little use for it, and the same was the case with the parasol in her mother's 
hands. Mother and daughter kissed once in the course of the perform- 
ance, and their lips ran a narrow risk of being frozen together. The 
audience applauded freely, perhaps from a desire to keep warm, and alto- 
gether the performance went off merrily. The quartette of voices was by 
no means a bad one, and our friends of the Vivian felt themselves more 
than repaid for their efforts at Christmas. 

The operetta was soon over, and then followed a dance. There was 
no fear of being overheated, and everybody exercised to the full ability of 
his limbs. It was so late that we dare not tell the hour when the boat- 
swain called "Vivians away!" and the visitors returned to their ship. 

A week later the officers and part of the crew of the Gambetta were 
invited to an entertainment on board the Vivian. They accepted, and 
came promptly to find the deck-house decorated and lighted as their own 
had been on the New-year festivities, and, fortunately for them, a fall in 



FEED'S JOEE IN THE PEEFOEMANCE. 



193 



the temperature had made the place quite comfortable. The entertain- 
ment comprised a minstrel performance, in which our young friends had a 
prominent part and were assisted by the vocal and instrumental musicians 
of the crew. Then two of the sailors who had been trained to acrobatic 







PERFORMANCE ON THE " TIVIAN." 



- 



performances amused the company by turning somersaults, balancing can- 
non-shot on their arms and heads, and going through other evolutions pe- 
culiar to the circus. A joke arranged by Fred was perpetrated at the 
close of the "ground and lofty tumbling" which produced a momentary 
panic, and then set everybody in a roar of laughter. 

Part of the performance consisted in handling a fifty-six pound weight 
as though it were the merest trifle ; and to prove that there was no decep- 

13 



194 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



tion, the weight was passed around in the audience before and after being 
handled by the acrobat. 

When he was through with the weight, the performer allowed it to fall 
on the stage with a heavy thud, close to the screen at one side ; then he 
threw a somersault, while his companion essayed certain tricks with the 
cannon-ball. Attention being thus drawn from the fifty-six pound weight, 
it was skilfully removed and a pasteboard imitation took its place. 

Then the performer picked up the weight again and tied a small rope 
to it ; by means of the rope he whirled it in the air precisely as though it 
had been a solid mass of iron ; then, as if by accident, it slipped from his 




george's "punch and jcdt." 



hand and went flying over the audience. Heads were "ducked," and 
there was a sigh of alarm from several mouths; the sigh was changed to 
laughter when the weight was returned to its place by means of the rope, 
in which a strip of India-rubber had been concealed. Nobody was hurt 
except by the expansion of ribs, produced by excessive mirth. 

Then George gave a short exhibition of a Punch and Judy show. His 
imitation of the time-honored amusement of London children was admira- 
ble, and as a part of it was given in French, he secured the earnest ap- 
plause of all the visitors. Then there was a dance, and after two hours of 
fun the audience dispersed. 



THE "GAMBETTA" ON FIRE. 195 

The next week there was a return entertainment on the Gambetta, and 
every week during their hibernation when the weather permitted, and as 
long as communication was feasible over the ice, there was something 
amusing on one of the ships. There was a good-natured rivalry between 
them, and each tried to have something that would interest the other; it 
was not easy to do this when the difficulties of language were to be con- 
sidered, and the success of the enterprise showed a great deal of ingenuity 
on the part of all concerned. Music, jugglery, and pantomime were the 
principal features of the performances, and to these may be added displays 
of the magic lantern and occasional experiments in chemistry. 

One night, while the people of the Vivian were entertaining their 
friends from the Gambetta, there was a sudden interruption. 

The bell of the telephone sounded, and the cabin steward called Fred 
to see what was wanted. As soon as he had placed his ear to the instru- 
ment he heard the appalling words, 

"Le Gambetta est en feu /" — (" The Gambetta is on fire !") 

Fred ran to Commander Bronson with the news, and the latter imme- 
diately informed his visitors. Of course the performance closed at once, 
the men went to their quarters, and Captain Girard and his officers and 
crew started with all speed for their ship. Commander Bronson tendered 
the services of his men, and at once prepared to follow to the endangered 
vessel. 

Everything was done in order, and without any excitement whatever. 
There was excellent discipline on board both the ships, and every man fell 
at once into his place. The relief party included Commander Bronson, 
the first officer of the Vivian, two petty officers, Dr. Tonner and George, 
together with ten men from the crew. They followed closely on the steps 
of the Gambettd's men, and were at the side of that ship not more than a 
couple of minutes behind them. The men brought axes and fire-buckets 
from the Vivian, and Dr. Tonner was provided with whatever might be 
needed for the relief of the men of either crew who should be overcome 
by the smoke or flame, or exhausted in the efforts of controlling the fire. 

Smoke was pouring from the ventilating shaft in the top of the deck- 
house, and as they entered the door-way leading from the gang-plank into 
the covered space on deck, the cloud was of almost stifling thickness. Cap- 
tain Girard and his party were already below. 

The deck was in charge of -a petty officer and one man, all the rest be- 
ing below endeavoring to suppress the conflagration. Commander Bron- 
son sent his compliments to Captain Girard, and asked if he and his men 
could be of service; the answer was returned that they could do nothing 



196 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

below for the moment, as the Gambettc? s crew was filling all the working 
space. As a matter of precaution it was desirable to remove the stores 
that were kept always ready in the deck-house, and the Vivian? s party pro- 
ceeded at once to perform this service. 

Boxes and barrels were thrown down the gang-plank by some of the 
men, while the others slid them along the ice to a place of safety, in case 
the ship should be burned. The work was performed with great rapidity, 
and in a quarter of an hour the deck was pretty well cleared. The pack- 
ages had been previously arranged in such a manner that they could be 
hastily removed in case of necessity. The same precaution was observed 
on the Vivian, and in thus acting, the commanders were only following the 
example of their predecessors in arctic exploration. 

As the last of the packages was deposited on the ice, word was brought 
from below that the fire was under control and would shortly be ex- 
tinguished. In another quarter of an hour the danger was over, and Cap- 
tain Girard invited Commander Bronson and his officers to join him in the 
cabin. With the politeness of his nation he apologized for having kept 
them waiting on deck, and explained that he had been extremely occupied 
since his return from the delightful entertainment on the Vivian. 

Then he told the story of the fire, and the narration fell upon interested 
ears. 

The watch below were in their bunks, having laid aside their furs on 
descending from the deck, as was their invariable custom, and donned 
their ordinary clothing. All were asleep except two ; one of the waking- 
ones thought he detected the smell of smoke, and after a few minutes of 

. . ■ * 

hesitation mentioned it to the other. The latter was of the same mind ; 

and while one roused their companions, the other went to report the dis- 
covery to the officer on duty. Of course the matter was immediately in- 
vestigated. 

The smoke was found to be issuing from a store-room just forward of 
the men's quarters; the partition was torn away to gain an entrance to 
the store-room, which was so densely filled with smoke that the men who 
entered it were nearly stifled. By creeping close to the deck and holding 
a sponge to his nose, one of the officers found the source of the smoke, 
which was below. 

There was no hatch in the immediate vicinity, and so a hole was cut 
in the deck for the admission of water. By this time a hose was ready 
from the donkey-engine, and a stream was directed to the locality of the 
fire; buckets were brought into requisition, and the first supply of water 
was obtained from a tank which was kept constantly full, for use in just 



HOW THE FIRE WAS SUBDUED. 



197 



such an emergency as this. Then a hose was passed outside to draw 
water from a hole in the ice; this hole was opened daily, partly in order 
to take soundings, and partly to have a supply of water in case of fire, 
since only a limited amount could be kept on board. Of course it froze 
over almost as soon as it was opened, but it was not a serious matter to 
drill it clear again. There was one man in each watch whose duty it was 
to open this hole whenever an alarm of fire was given; in the present 
instance the man on duty was promptly at his post, so that the water-sup- 
ply was ready the moment the hose was brought outside. 




A FIRE ON SHIPBOARD. 



The fire had not gained much head-way, and when Captain Girard 
reached the Gambetta on his return from the Vivian the water was pour- 
ing steadily into the hold and subduing the smoke. As soon as it was 
thought safe to do so, one of the officers descended, having taken the pre- 
caution to tie a sponge in front of his nose and mouth to prevent inhaling 
the smoke. Carrying the end of the hose, he directed it against the fire 
wherever it was visible, and in a little while it was extinguished The 
Gambetta was saved, and her crew were spared the horror of being driven 



198 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

from their home in the middle of an arctic night to seek shelter with 
their American friends. 

Of course the extent of the damage could only be ascertained by a 
thorough investigation, and this could not be made until the hold was free 
from smoke. A careful watch was kept to see that the fire did not break 
out afresh, and in the course of some twenty hours or more it was an- 
nounced that all the smoke had disappeared. The party from the Vivian 
returned to their ship at the end of their interview Math Captain Girard ; 
George had already told Fred, by means of the telephone, that the fire 
had been subdued, and when Commander Bronson and his companions 
reached the Vivian's side, they were greeted with three cheers by the 
assembled officers and crew. 

The origin of the fire was a good deal of a mystery, but it was finally 
attributed to the spontaneous combustion of some articles stored in the 
fore-hold. It could be accounted for in no other way, as there was no 
means of reaching the spot with a spark from outside, and no lamp or 
candle had been carried there for some time. If it had been in the vicin- 
ity of the donkey-engine, it might have been caused by the heating of the 
pipes and the charring of the timbers, as in the case of the Rodgers in 
the winter of 1881 ; but from the position of the engine this was not pos- 
sible. Some of the French sailors were superstitious, and thought the fire 
originated from supernatural causes ; one of them solemnly declared that 
it must have been the work of the Ice-king, who was angry at the invasion 
of his dominions. Sailors of all nations have many superstitions, and the 
French mariner is not behind his brother navigator in this respect. 

" It is the peculiarity of fire," said Commander Bronson, " that it de- 
stroys the evidence of its origin. For this reason the cause of a fire is 
frequently a mystery, and it will always be so until the habits of confla- 
grations are changed." 

A little while after the return from the Gamhetta everybody who was 
not required for duty was safely in bed. There was not much sleep, how- 
ever, as most of the company had dreams of fire and the perils that ac- 
company it. Fred was the victim of a nightmare, in which he imagined 
the Vivian to be on fire and her crew escaping to the ice. He waked 
with a scream that startled his companions ; he apologized for disturbing 
them, but explained that he was in the act of carrying the hose to the 
fore-hatch, where the fire was burning fiercely, when he slipped on the 
ladder and went tumbling headlong below. Naturally enough he jumped 
for safety, and found himself outside his bunk, and sitting on the cold 
floor of the cabin. 



ARRANGING THE FIRE-WATCH. 



199 



At the very outset of the voyage the fire-watch on the Vivian was 
carefully arranged, and every possible precaution taken against the de- 
struction of the ship lyy fire. To ensure the proper training of the crew, 
after the accident on the Gamhetta, alarms were given at frequent inter- 
vals ; every man ran to his post of duty at these alarms, and it was felt 
that a serious fire could not occur on the Vivian except under the most 
extraordinary circumstances. 







FROZEN IN. 



200 THE VOYAGE OF THE " VIVIAN. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ARCTIC NEWSPAPERS AND COMEDIES.— DRIFTING WITH THE ICE.— SLEDGE 
JOURNEYS.— DISCOVERING LAND. 

A MATE LIE, theatricals and musical entertainments were not by any 
-£^- means the sole amusements of the parties on the Vivian and Gam- 
betta. In arctic hibernation it is necessary to have both mind and body 
occupied, and only by doing so can disease be kept from making its ravages 
among the crew. The prolonged darkness has a depressing effect on the 
mental organization, and not infrequently the results are disastrous. This 
is particularly the case with the men in the forecastle, as the officers are 
more or less occupied with scientific observations and the care of the ship. 
The crew have little regular work to do, and consequently are liable to 
become despondent, quarrelsome, and insubordinate, and cases of insanity 
are not uncommon. To prevent such a calamity, a prudent commander 
will devise employments and amusements for the men; the officers of the 
Vivian and Oambetta had a clear understanding on this point, and en- 
couraged in every way the occasional interchanges of courtesies at the 
entertainments we have described. „_ 

On each ship schools were organized for the instruction of the sailors, 
and though the proposition was not favorably received at first, the men 
soon entered enthusiastically into the plans for their mental improvement. 
Fred and George were the managers of the schools on the Vivian • they 
received a good deal of assistance from the Doctor and the major, together 
with all the other officers of the ship. They had classes in mathematics, 
geography, astronomy, and navigation, and once a week there was a lecture 
by one of the officers in the house on deck. The lectures covered a variety 
of topics, and the programme which was prepared by the youths announced 
that it was the celebrated "North-star Course: to be delivered in Vivian 
Hall, corner of Bear Street and Walrus Avenue. Admission free. Holders 
of tickets requested not to appear in evening dress." 

The lecturing was performed under disadvantages, as both speakers 
and audience were clad in furs, and their breath often filled the enclosed 



WINTER SPOETS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 201 

space like a cloud of steam. Some of the lectures were original, but as 
the season went on the speakers helped themselves to whatever material 
they had on hand. Dr. Tonner gave an amusing account of his experiences 
among the Indians of Arizona, and subsequently made a decided hit witli 
an abridgment of John Phenix's Lectures on Astronomy. Major Clapp 
was eloquent over the mysteries of Ichthyology, and gave a good many 
facts about the habits of the blue-fish, and other products of the sea-shore, 
in the vicinity of New York, but he was mortified to find that the sailors 
laughed more heartily at his reading of Artemus Ward's "Sixty Minutes 
in Africa." George and Fred tried their hands at lecturing, and they also 
gave readings and recitations whenever the occasion required. They had 
a liberal repertoire, and altogether the season may be said to have passed 
off brilliantly. Prizes were given in the schools for the pupils who made 
the greatest progress, and there was not a sailor in the ship w T ho did not 
add materially to his stock of knowledge before the winter was over. 

The physical amusements included skating, sliding, and other athletic 
exercise on the ice. When the weather permitted, the men indulged in 
the construction of snow forts and monuments, and some of them carved 
grotesque figures out of the never-ending supply of material under their 
feet and around them. As the sun returned, and the ships were retained in 
their icy prison, the short period of daylight was frequently utilized by giv- 
ing half the crew of each ship liberty on the ice, and stimulating them to 
get up international matches of various kinds. They had running races in 
different forms— sometimes on the roads they had laid out, and at others 
over the roughest ice that could be found. The " tug-of-war," where an 
equal number from each ship pulled at a rope, was one of their favorite 
sports ; the Americans were most frequently the victors at this game, but 
when it came to running on a smooth road they were usually left behind 
by the more agile Frenchmen. 

Fred announced one day that no society could be complete without a 
newspaper; everybody shared his opinion, and the result was that the 
"Arctic Journal Publishing Company" was organized, with limited capi- 
tal and liability, but unlimited ability, as the prospectus described it. 
Fred was appointed editor, under the restriction of not being allowed to 
suppress anything, but to give every correspondent the fullest liberty to 
say what he pleased. In the prospectus he announced that all communi- 
cations would be used and not paid for, and that advertisers must invariably 
pay in advance. The paper was issued fortnightly, or rather it was read 
from manuscript by the editor and his assistant, George. It was made up 
of comments on the occurrences of the day, speculation on the prospect 



202 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

of reaching the pole, social, political, and scientific intelligence, together 
with jokes and advertisements. The paper was a pleasant diversion to all 
on board the Vivian, and after the first number appeared a similar pub- 
lication was started on the Gambetta. 

In his first issue the editor of the Arctic Journal paid a handsome 
tribute to the memory of his predecessors in this field of literary work. 
He said that the first paper of the kind was called the Winter Chronicle, 
or the Worth Georgian Gazette, and was edited by Captain Sabine on 
board the Hecla, in Parry's second expedition to the polar seas. It was 
in manuscript, like the Arctic Journal, and appeared every Monday during 
the five winter months of 1820: the first number is still in existence, 'and 
contains a column of miscellanies, including a list of "Arctic Miseries." 
Among them is the following:. "To go out in the morning for an airing, 
and when setting foot out of the vessel to find a frozen bath in the cook's 
hut. To go out with a piece of soft bread in your pocket, and when you 
feel hungry to find it so hardened by the frost that, instead of breaking 
under the teeth, it is rather they that are broken. To give yourself up to 
deep and useful meditations when out on a walk, and then to be suddenly 
awakened from your perplexities by the hug of a bear." 

George endeavored to rival Fred's efforts by composing a comedy for 
performance by the company of the Vivian. It was A 7 oted that he might 
imitate the example of other and more gifted dramatic authors by making 
" adaptations" from the French without credit. He immediately opened 
negotiations with one of the younger officers of the Gambetta, with the 
result that he was liberally supplied with French comedies from which he 
might steal with a clear conscience. In less than a week he completed his 
comedy and submitted it to himself; as he was one of the managers of the 
theatre, it was entirely proper that he should examine his own work, and 
it is hardly necessary to add that the play was promptly accepted, and un- 
derlined for production. 

The play was entitled " Parry and Paris ; or, The Search for the Pole." 
When Captain Parry was in the Arctic Circle, endeavoring to get to the 
North-pole, he received a despatch from his government offering him an 
important position as soon as he reached home. It seems that the Russian 
Government was anxious to capture one,, Carol us Slyfoxsky, a Polish ref- 
ugee, who was giving them a great deal of trouble, and as the English 
navigator had got nearer the arctic pole than anybody else, they wanted 
him to try his skill on this Pole from Warsaw. The first act was supposed 
to occur on board the Hecla, in her winter quarters, the second was located 
in Paris, and the third in Parry's last journey in the arctic regions, where 



DRAMATIC CRITICISM. 



203 



he was seeking the North-pole with Slyfoxsky as one of his crew. As sug- 
gested by the title, the play was largely made up of pirns, and the young 
author felt confident of success. 

Tickets were freely distributed for the first night, and in this respect 
the affair was not unlike an initial performance in Paris or New York. 
There was not the array of hair- 
less heads in the front rows 
which one sees at a first night 
in New York, and as there was 
only one editor present, he was 
unable to congregate in the lob- 
by, and discuss the points of 
the play with his fellow-critics. 
Fred had received a ticket for 
a " box," but in consequence of 
the distance from home he was 
unaccompanied by the ladies of 
his family ; perhaps it was j ust 
as well, since his ticket only en- 
titled him to an empty candle- 
box that was utilized as a seat. 
Chairs were scarce on board the 
Vivian, and everything which 
could serve as a substitute was 
brought into use. 

In order that Fred might be entirely without bias in writing his criti- 
cism of the play, George invited the young editor to supper immediately 
after the performance. The supper w T as the best that the Dehnonico of 
the Vivian could get up, and when it was over, Fred was clearly of opinion 
that the author of " Parry and Paris" was the most gifted dramatist of 
the age. " The play that shall move the world to laughter and tears, and 
to all the emotions ever found in the human heart or in 'Webster's Una- 
bridged Dictionary,' will come from his talented pen. ' Parry and Paris' 
gives promise of future greatness; it contains passages surpassing those of 
'Richelieu' and ' The Lady of Lyons,' and there are scenes and situations 
such as Shakspeare never incorporated in his plays ; and we will add that 
Shakspeare never gave such a supper to the editor after the play was over, 
and we have yet to learn of mince-pies made of pemmican, and steaks of 
seal-meat on toast." 

George's play was repeated for the benefit of the officers of the Gam- 




CAPTAIN PARRY. 



204: 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN. 




CAROLUS SLTFOXSKT. 



betta, and the example of the young dramatist was followed by the gentle- 
man who had furnished him with part of the material for "Parry and 
Paris." The American play was given once on board the Gambetta, while 
the French one was transferred, "for one night 
only," to the boards of the Vivian. In this way 
everybody had an opportunity of seeing both 
productions, and it was a noticeable fact that 
there was a full attendance on all occasions, and 
nobody went- out between the acts. In the mat- 
ter of scenery both ships were sadly deficient, 
and there was a placard in front of the stage 
requesting the audience to imagine a forest, a 
town, or an ice-field, according to the conditions 
of the play. 

So the winter passed away. On and on they 
drifted, eastward and northward; sometimes they 
moved so slowly that it was difficult to discover 

any movement at all, and at other times their progress was from twenty 
to thirty miles a day. The cold at times was intense; the thermometer 
fell to — 74° Fahrenheit on several occasions, and 
once it reached —81°, or a hundred and thirteen 
degrees below the freezing-point of fresh water. 
Ordinarily the winter temperature was from ten to 
twenty degrees below zero ; our friends soon be- 
came accustomed to these figures, but when the 
lowest points of the scale were reached they were 
very cautious about exposing themselves to the 
weather. They were all agreed on one point, that 
a temperature of fifty degrees below zero, with the 
air perfectly still, is easier to endure than twelve 
or fifteen degrees below zero with the wind blow- 
ing. At such times nobody ventured out except 
on urgent duty, and all communication between 
the ships ceased except through the telephone. 

Fred and George made note of the curious ef- 
fects of intense cold. One day the former incau- 
tiously touched his rifle barrel with his naked hand 
when the thermometer stood at —70°. His hand was blistered as though 
the iron had been red hot; the youth did not repeat the experiment, and 
ever afterwards he handled cold iron with his mittens on. Fresh bread 




A CHARACTER. 



THE EFFECTS OF INTENSE COLD. 



205 




,c^5^- 






A CHARACTER IN THE FRENCH PLAY. 



exposed to the cold became solid as stone, and could only be cut with a 
hatchet, and as for beef, it resembled red granite. The moisture in the 
cans of preserved meat and vegetables caused them to become a solid mass, 
from which the tin was chopped, leaving the contents like a section from 
a geological specimen. If it was desired to 
soften the contents before opening the can, 
it was placed in the steam-box and gradual- 
ly thawed into a condition of malleability. 
Those articles suffered least that had the 
smallest amount of moisture in them, as 
there was less to be frozen. Hard -tack, or 
sea-biscuit, was therefore better for carry- 
ing outside than fresh bread, and dried beef 
was preferable to the canned article. 

Arctic explorers have recorded that, on 
their expeditions over the ice, the supply of 
brandy and rum which they carried became 
frozen solid, and the only thing that did not 
congeal was the alcohol used for making 

coffee and tea, or melting snow in order to procure water. Pemmican and 
hard bread are the best articles of food for a sledging party in severe 
weather, as they contain little moisture, and will yield more readily than 
other substances to the efforts of the hungry man to devour them. In the 
severest weather the wind on the face has the same feeling as would be 
produced by the blows of a small whip, and the victim feels as though the 
flesh were being peeled off in shreds. This sensation is followed by numb- 
ness, and then by the blood leaving the exposed places; then the skin be- 
comes blue, which is an indication that freezing is about to commence. 
If the face turns white it is a sure sign that it is frozen, and unless it is 
violently rubbed with snow, to bring the blood back again, the consequences 
are disastrous. 

The face cannot be kept entirely covered, as the congelation of the 
breath on the furs that surround it will speedily cause the formation of a 
mass of ice. Inexperienced travellers who have covered their faces with 
wrappers and mufflers are sometimes unable to remove them, as they be- 
come converted into muzzles and collars as hard and stiff as iron ; the best 
way of avoiding trouble, and at the same time to protect the face, is to 
hold the hood with one hand, allowing the breath to pass outside, and 
leaving a narrow opening for the eyes to see the way. In the severest 
weather it is next to impossible to move at all ; and if a storm arises 



206 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

the most prudent course is to wait in the best attainable shelter until it 
ceases. 

With every storm there were fears that the ice-fields might be broken 
up and the ships threatened with destruction. Preparations for retreat in 
case of accident had been made early in the winter, but everybody knew 
how small was the chance of escape in case of the loss of their floating 
homes. The ice-field in which they were enclosed was of immense extent 
and great thickness, so that it was not affected by ordinary winds ; on two 
or three occasions the winds rose to the force of gales, and then the ice 
rocked visibly beneath them, and the ships groaned and creaked in their 
beds. The snow flew in blinding masses, and the wind blew with such 
force that it was impossible to stand up against it. If the fields had 
broken, and the ships gone down in one of these gales, it is not likely that 
any trace of the expedition would ever have reached us. Travel over the 
broken ice would have been slow at best, and it was far indeed to the near- 
est land where assistance could be obtained. 

As the spring advanced, and the sun each day remained longer and 
longer above the horizon, there was great anxiety to find a release from the 
icy prison. Early in April, observation showed that they were in latitude 
80° 23' north, and longitude 120° west. This placed them to the north- 
ward of the Parry Archipelago, in a part of the polar sea not hitherto 
visited by any explorers ; by the end of April they were five degrees far- 
ther to the east, and two degrees nearer the pole ; not only were they pro- 
gressing in the direction they desired to go, but they had another motion 
which showed that some new force was at work. In the last nine days of 
April the ice-field turned nearly one quarter around ; the bows of the ships 
had pointed towards the north, but were now directed to the west. As 
they drifted with the ice, they might be said to be sailing very nearly stern 
foremost. 

Naturally the new movement of the ships was discussed by the officers, 
and various theories were advanced. 

" Perhaps the motion of the ice-field is caused by currents opposed to 
each other," the major suggested. " If there is an easterly current to the 
north of us, and a westerly one to the south, it would tend to give the ice- 
field a circular motion." 

All the party agreed that the major's ground was well taken. 

" What is more probable," said Commander Bronson, " is that there is 
land on one side of us, and the ice has grounded against it. Explorations 
have shown that there is an extensive archipelago to the north of the 
American continent ; we know we are to the northward of the Parry Isles, 



AN EXPEDITION OVER THE ICE. 207 

and the probabilities are that we are among islands not yet known to the 
geographers. 

" Thus far," he continued, " we cannot say whether the land on which 
our ice-field impinges is to the north or south of our position. We must 
find that out by observation, and as soon as our minds are made up we 
will go in search of it." 

Then the commander detailed his plans for observing the movement 
of the ice. 

Sledging parties were to go from the ship as far as a single day's travel 
would carry them, one to the north and the other to the south. There 
they were to observe the drift of the ice as accurately as possible ; a sim- 
ilar observation would be made at the ship, and a comparison of the notes 
would tell him what he wished to know. 

" If it is as I suspect," said the commander, " we shall find that there 
is a more rapid movement of the ice to the south of us than there is to the 
north. The ice is turning, as we have seen by the change in the ship's 
position, and if we can learn the drift at the points indicated we can cal- 
culate with tolerable accuracy the distance we are from the land." 

Everything was made ready, and early the next morning the two sledges 
got away on their journeys, each carrying the necessary tools and instru- 
ments for making the observations. Major Clapp and George went with 
one of the sledges, while Dr. Tonner and Fred had the other. The 
major's sledge made about seven miles to the north; but owing to the 
roughness of the ice to the south, and some ugly breaks in it, the Doctor 
found himself little more than four miles away when it was time to stop. 
Both camped on the ice, each using one of the hummocks for a shelter to 
protect the tent from the wind, in case it should Come on to blow. Snow T 
was melted by the aid of an alcohol lamp, and coffee was made in the 
same way ; pemmican and biscuit were the solid part of the provisions, and 
it is unnecessary to say that the exposure and exercise gave everybody an 
admirable appetite. 

George and Fred had their first experience of sleeping on the ice, and 
the novelty of it w r as a compensation for the discomfort. Each of the 
party had a sleeping-bag, which was nothing more nor less than a huge 
sack of deer-skin, amply large enough to hold its owner. To go to bed was 
to creep into the bag feet-foremost and then close the top, with the excep- 
tion of a small aperture for the admission of fresh air. To get up, one had 
simply to creep out of the bag; and as they all slept with their clothes on, 
there was no toilet to be made other than a few shakes and twists to get 
the body into working order and the joints in their proper places. 



208 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

Sleeping-bags are an indispensable part of an outfit for an arctic sledge 
journey. They have been used by every explorer from the days of Wran- 
gell and Parry, and probably were employed by their predecessors. In 
addition to the bag there is a sort of coverlid of furs, which is spread over 
the feet of the sleepers after they have taken their places. The spreading 
of this protector is no easy matter, as it must be done when everybody is 
in his bag and has very little use of his arms. After being used a few 
times it absorbs moisture, which freezes as fast as it is taken in ; the cov T 
erlid becomes like a piece of sheet-iron, and the same is the case with the 
tent and the sleeping-bags. 

" It is a curious circumstance," said the Doctor, " that the sleeping-bag 
belongs alike to the frigid and the torrid zones. When I travelled in the 
deserts of Arabia we had bags of muslin in which we slept at night to 
shield us from mosquitoes ; here we have bags of deer-skin with which to 
protect ourselves from the intense cold." 

Breakfast was very much like the supper; at any rate, it consisted of 
the same provisions, but Fred managed to get up a change in it. " When 
I went to supper," said he, " I first took a bite of pemmiean and then a 
bite of biscuit. For breakfast I began with the biscuit and followed with 
the pemmiean, so that breakfast and supper are not the same after all.". 

Both parties were fortunate enough to find crevices where the field had 
recently broken and left only a covering of young ice a couple of feet 
thick. Cutting through this young ice they were able to make the sound- 
ings they desired, and also to use the lead for obtaining the direction and 
rate of the drift. As soon as they had carried out the orders of the com- 
mander they returned to the ship. One of the parties saw a bear, but the 
animal was not inclined to familiarity, and made off as fast as he could go. 
As an attempt to capture him would have caused delay, it was wisely de- 
cided to let him alone. 

The result of the observations was given to the commander, together 
with notes concerning the character of the ice over which the parties had 
travelled, and the crevices where the soundings were made. Commander 
Bronson made a careful computation, in which he was assisted by Major 
Clapp and Captain Jones, and in a couple of hours arrived at his decision 
concerning the movement of the ice. 

"According to m} T calculations the field where we are is resting against 
the land, or, at all events, is aground about twenty-five miles north of us. 
The current is bearing it in a circular direction, or rather in the segment 
of a circle, and if we go north the distance I have indicated we shall find 
solid ground, or perhaps a reef or shoal on which the ice has touched. If 



AN INTERNATIONAL RACE. 209 

it were not for the Laze which has filled the northern horizon for several 
days I think we should see the land easily." 

" Then," said the major, " 1 move that we go in search of it. If we 
find land we shall add something to the geography of the world, as nobody 
has ever been here before." 

His opinion was echoed by the rest, and it was at once decided to go 
in search of land. 

The expedition was arranged like the one of the day before, with the 
exception that the party was to carry provisions for ten days, and the 
sledges were to travel in company. In their eagerness to be off they got 
away two or three hours before daylight, and made such good progress 
that they were nowhere to be seen when the sun came above the horizon. 
The. commander was so busy with matters that required his attention that 
he did not have time to call through the telephone to Captain Girard, and 
tell him that the sledges had gone on a voyage of discovery ! We have a 
suspicion that he did not wish the Frenchman to know anything about it 
until too late for a party bearing the tricolor to get ahead of the Americans. 

With the early start, and their enthusiasm to help them along, our 
friends made nearly eleven miles before camping for the night. The next 
morning they were somewhat stiff and sore, but keen as ever for going on ; 
George and Fred showed a great deal of energy in getting things ready 
for the start, and the drivers had their dogs harnessed and everything in 
place before the sun was up. Soon as it was fairly above the horizon the 
sharp eyes of Fred made a discovery which filled the whole party with 
excitement. 

There was the land they had been looking for, and it was exactly in 
the direction and apparently at the distance predicted by Commander 
Bronson ! 

Everybody was in great glee at the sight, and needed no incentive to 
be off. They made the best progress they could, but there were so many 
hummocks and rough places that by noon the sledges were less than five 
miles from their camp of the previous night. A halt was ordered, and 
men and dogs rested from their labors. George was impatient to know 
something of the strange land they were approaching* and so he climbed 
to the top of the highest hummock in the neighborhood, and scanned the 
distant shore with a glass. 

Having made out all that was possible, he looked to the south, to ascer- 
tain if he could see the ship. Suddenly a speck on the ice caught his 
eye; it was a speck of red, and was moving. Adjusting the lenses of the 
glass to bring the speck into focus, he was not long in making it out. 

14 



210 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

It was the tricolor, carried in front of the sledges from the Gamhetta. 

The young man came down from the hummock with the alacrity of 
a school-boy escaping from a hornet's nest, and in a few strides he was 
at the spot were his companions were halted. 

"Hurry up! hurry up!" he shouted. "The Frenchmen are after us, 
and not more than three or four miles away." 

ISfo further incentive was needed for the American part of the expe- 
dition, but the dogs and their drivers were not so quick of comprehension. 
While they were preparing to be off again, George mounted a hummock 
to pick out the best road, and to his great delight he espied a stretch of 
smooth ice, winch began not more than a mile from where they were, and 
apparently continued nearly up to the land. 

This smooth ice did not lie directly between them and the shore, but 
farther to the westward. He reported it to the major, and the latter or- 
dered the route to be changed so as to reach the level stretch, where the 
greater distance could be more than equalized by the superior speed at 
which they could travel. From that time till the edge of the smooth ice 
was reached, one of the party was constantly at the top of a hummock, 
or proceeding ahead of the sledges in order to find the best road ; and 
we can be sure that they frequently looked behind, to ascertain if the 
Frenchmen were lessening the distance between them. 

The major conjectured that the moving field had broken. in such a 
way as to leave an expanse of open water which had been speedily frozen 
over, probably in a single night. There were ridges here and there, but 
nothing serious, and when they were fairly upon it the teams dashed mer- 
rily along. The major had taken a hint from Captain Hall and prepared 
a log, which he threw occasionally, to ascertain the speed they were mak- 
ing. It was difficult to have anything like an accurate estimate, as they 
were obliged to make frequent halts to remove tangles from the harness, 
and otherwise straighten out the teams. A dog-team will manage to get 
into a good many snarls in the course of a day's travel ; it is a severe trial 
of the explorer's patience, but there seems to be no help for it. 

The log was constructed on the principle of the log of a ship, and con- 
sisted of a fishing-line divided into knots and wound on a reel that turned 
freely on a handle in its centre. At the end of the line was an iron bolt 
weighing a pound or more, and serving the same purpose as the float on 
the nautical log. It was inconvenient to manipulate a sand-glass on board 
a dog-sledge, or to hold a watch with mittened hands to count the time; 
to get over this difficulty the major had practised counting "one, two, 
three," and so on up to ten, in almost exact unison with the beats of a 



GOING AT FULL SPEED. 



211 




212 



THE. VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



watch. With this contrivance he ascertained that the sledge sometimes 
went as fast as eleven miles an hour, but it rarely did so for more than a 
few minutes at a time. 

They estimated that in their first hour on the ice they made fully six 
miles, and somewhat less than that distance in the second hour. By sun- 
set they were within half a mile of land; but, unfortunately, their progress 
w r as again impeded by rough ice, which was piled on the coast in a way 
far from welcome to the anxious explorers. 




ICE-LOG, LINE AND REEL. 



PRESIDENT LAND. 213 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE LAND VISITED AND EXPLORED.— THE AMERICANS IN POSSESSION.— PERIL- 
OUS JOURNEY OVER THE ICE.— THE SHIPS IN GREAT DANGER. 

" \X7"-E mustn't let the Gambetta's people get ahead of us," said the 

» ' major, as the sledges came to a halt at the edge of the smooth ice. 

"Suppose you and George go ahead with the flag," replied the Doe- 
tor, "while Fred and I look after the teams. We must be the first to 
hoist our flag on the land, and claim it for our nation." 

"All right," the major answered. " Get the flag immediately," he con- 
tinued, turning to George, " and we'll show our friends of the Gambetta that 
we have not forgotten Wrangell Island." 

Action was suited to the word without a moment's delay, and the 
major and George made the best possible speed to the shore. They had 
a rough road among the hummocks, and through the broken ice, but 
under the circumstances they made excellent progress. 

Just above the point where they landed there was a rock} 7 hill perhaps 
a hundred feet high. Pausing a moment to take breath, and make sure 
they were not pursued, George fixed his eye on the summit of this hill ; 
then, with an expression and attitude that would have done honor to the 
hero of " Excelsior," in the act which Longfellow has made immortal, he 
climbed to the summit and proceeded to place the American flag where 
it could wave in the arctic breeze. 

" I take possession of this land in the name of the President of the 
United States !" said George, as he planted the point of the slender staff 
in a crevice of the rock. 

"And it shall be called President Land," added the major, who had 
been obliged to ascend more slowly than his j'outhful companion. 

" Wonder where our French friends are now ?" said George, as the 
ceremony of taking possession was concluded. 

" They'll be along as soon as they can get here," was the reply, " and 
perhaps they won't like it when they find we've got ahead of them." 

The glass had been left with Fred, and so our friends had only their 

14* 



214 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

unassisted eyes to see with. They scanned the horizon in the direction 
they had come, but could not discover any indication of the French 
sledges. 

" We'll leave the flag here for the present," said the major, " and see 
what we can do to help Fred along. There they are, struggling among 
the hummocks ; see, there is a sort of lane right from the edge of the 
smooth ice close up to the shore, and evidently they haven't seen it." 

George proposed to go and guide the sledges into the ,lane the major 
had pointed out; the latter was to remain and watch the flag, and also keep 
possession of the land they had discovered and annexed to the possessions 
of the United States. The major approved the suggestion, and away 
went the youth down the hill, but hardly with more rapidity than he had 
climbed it. 

The sledges were quickly guided in the right direction, and by dusk 
the whole party was on shore. The tent was put up at the foot of the 
hill, and to make the possession of the land beyond question, a flag which 
Fred drew from the baggage was hung above it, and waved a greeting to 
the one on the summit of the hill. 

" Two souls with but a single thought," said the Doctor, as he looked 
at Fred and George, who stood admiring the banners they had spread to 
the breeze. 

" Yes," responded the major. " If two heads are better than one, why 
are not two flags, even though they be small V 

" They're large enough to hold President Land against all comers," 
said George, "and I don't care now how soon our French friends come 
along." 

Fred scanned the expanse of ice with his field-glass, but the growing 
darkness impeded his vision; he could see nothing of their rivals, and 
as all hands were heartily weary, they proceeded to get supper and pre- 
pare for sleep. The dogs were fed by their drivers, and aided by the 
alcohol lamp the party was soon provided for as liberally as circumstances 
would allow. Soon as supper was over they crawled into their bags, and 
slept soundly till early in the morning. 

Fred was the first to rise, and immediately on getting out of the tent 
he looked to see if the flags were where they had been left. Both were 
unharmed, and when satisfied on this point the young man took his glass, 
and climbed the hill to ascertain what had become of the party from the 
Gambetta. 

They were at the edge of the rough ice that had given the Americans 
so much trouble the day before, and were just starting in among the hum- 



EXPLORING THE COUNTRY. 



215 




mocks to make their way to the shore. Evidently they were ignorant of 
the existence of the lane which had been discovered from the hill-top the 
dav before, and were in the same error that had befallen the Doctor and 
himself. Without a moment's delay he descended the hill, and went out 
among the rough ice, to put the 
Frenchmen in the proper way. In 
a little while they were in the right 
road and safe on land ; they pitched ^ \xjl 
their tent about three hundred yards v '- ^- -• ;i_ Y^" 
from that of the Americans, not from 
any spirit of unfriendliness, but in 
order to keep the dogs from fighting. 
The party from the Gambetta gra- 
ciously accepted their defeat in not 
being first on land, but promised to 
be ahead of the Americans the next 
time anything of the kind was un- 
dertaken. IN CAMP . 

It seemed that they were not 
able to get over the smooth ice until after sunset, and the latter part of 
their ride across it had been done rather slowly, for fear of accidents in 
the growing darkness. When they reached the rough ice they saw the 
case was hopeless, and the Americans were certainly ahead of them in 
getting to land. Very sensibly they spread their tent where they were, 
and waited till morning before going on. 

It was decided that the two parties should act together in exploring 
the newly discovered laud ; and as the Americans had given the title to 
it, the French should have the right to name the highest mountain. It 
was further agreed that all mines of gold, silver, or other valuable product 
of the earth, should be the joint property of the two expeditions, and no 
concession to work mines or till the soil should be valid without the 
signatures of the captains of the Vivian and Gambetta. Fred suggested 
that it would be well to arrange for the establishment of an army and 
navy, and also for a police force to maintain order in President Land, but 
his idea did not secure speedy adoption. It was agreed, however, that the 
government of the country must be republican, and the inhabitants would 
have the right to make their own laws without danger of interference 
from the home authorities. 

These preliminaries settled, it w T as agreed that the exploration should 
be made to the westward by the party from the Vivian, while the Gam- 



216 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

betters people would examine the country east of the camp. One entire 
day was to be allowed for the exploration ; if either party was detained 
from camp overnight, it was to be understood that a serious accident had 
happened. 

The ground was too rough for the sledges to be of any use, and conse- 
quently they were left at the camp, together with everything eke not need- 
ed for the day's journey. During the remainder of that day the region 
around the camp was examined, and the next morning both parties made 
an early start. Of course the dog-drivers remained at the camp to keep 
the dogs from straying, but all the rest of the party went to explore the land. 

It did not take lono- for them to decide that the scheme for the £Ov- 
eminent of the country would be of little use, as the inhabitants would not 
submit to it. The only residents they could find were bears, foxes, and 
other wild beasts, and a republican form of government has never been 
popular among these creatures. They are autocratic in their dispositions, 
and generally adhere to the principle that might makes right. 

Fred got a shot at a white bear before they had gone half a mile from 
camp, but the animal made off altogether too fast for anybody to follow. 
Then the rifle was handed to the Doctor, but no game was discovered for 
some time. There was very little vegetation, only a few mosses and stunt- 
ed shrubs, and our friends were unanimously of the opinion that it would 
n^t pay to attempt to colonize the country. Back of the camp, and per- 
haps a couple of miles inland, there was a hilly ridge about three hundred 
feet high. It was quite steep, and composed of broken shale, which made 
it difficult of ascent. The Doctor and Fred climbed to the top of the ridge, 
while the major and George proceeded along its base. 

Back of the ridge was a broad extent of ice which proved to be a 
glacier, the first that Fred had ever seen. Dr. Tonner shouted his discov- 
ery to the major, and then followed along the ridge to find a good point 
for venturing on the surface of the ice. As there was nothing to be seen 
at the base of the ridge, the major and George climbed up to join their 
companions, and then it was decided to cross the ice, or at least make an 
investigation of its character. 

The glacier was evidently an ancient and permanent one, as the sides 
of its channel were worn into precipices by the long continued flow of the 
river of ice. It was no easy matter to get fairly on the ice, owing to its 
broken character at the edge, and our friends walked a considerable dis- 
tance before finding a satisfactory spot. There were deep fissures in the 
ice, and as the part} 7 was unprovided with the proper apparatus for glacier- 
climbing, it was necessary to proceed with great caution. 



A DANGEROUS POSITION. 



217 




CROSSING A CREVASSE ON A BRIDGE OF ICE. 



218 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

At length a bridge of ice seemed to promise secure footing, and one 
after another they ventured upon it. George slipped when nearly over ; 
fortunately he fell on the side where the depth of the fissure was only a 
few feet, and escaped without injury. On the opposite side there was a 
sheer descent of some thirty or forty feet, and the consequences of a tumble 
there would have been serious. 

Close to the ridge the ice was dirty, and mingled with the debris of 
rock and earth it had gathered in its contact with the wall that kept it in 
place, but towards the centre the appearance changed to a pure white. 
Evidently the air was not filled with dust in this locality, or the surface of 
the glacier would have revealed it. George thought the bank of the glacier 
offered an excellent spot for building a summer-house, as the site was a 
cool one, and the expense of having the ice-carts call every morning would 
be avoided. 

Fissures were numerous, and some of them were concealed by freshly 
fallen snow, which greatly increased the danger. The major ordered a 
return to the land at the first favorable opportunity, and their intention of 
crossing the glacier was abandoned. Following down two or three hun- 
dred yards they found a place where the solid ice touched the wall of rock 
and enabled them to set foot on the earth again. 

From this point it was decided to follow the glacier to its mouth, if not 
too far away. The fall was so slight that the surface was apparently level, 
but still there must be a fall in order to give the mass a movement on- 
ward. There was no living thing on the surface of the glacier, but in a 
little valley enclosed by some of the hills which formed the ridge the Doc- 
tor saw a herd of musk-cattle plucking the very scanty herbage that grew 
there. Creeping around, so as not to alarm them, he managed to get a 
shot at close range, and brought clown one of these animals of the far 
North. The rest ran away at the report of the rifle, and at the apparition 
of the strange beings that rose from the ground as soon as the shot was 
fired. 

"Now that we have a musk-ox," said the major, "what will we do 
with it ?" 

The question was a perplexing one. As they were unable to carry the 
meat to camp, and had no means of cooking it where they were, it was 
decided that they would return that way if practicable, and take enough 
of the meat to camp to have some fresh steaks for supper, provided the 
bears and foxes did not come upon the prize in their absence. 

As this is the first of these animals that we have seen, we may as well 
give a description of him. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSK-OX. 



219 




A MUSK-OX. 



The musk-ox is peculiar to the polar regions of America, and its range 
is confined to the Arctic Circle, or very near it. It is twice as large as the 
reindeer, and when full grown is little if any smaller than a cow two years 
old ; it has strong horns that bend around the head like those of the wild 
sheep of the Rocky Mountains, or 

wild goat of the Himalayas, and k.*™=^^ 

its body is covered with long hair 
to protect it from the cold. The 
flesh when fat is not much unlike 
beef, and has an agreeable flavor; 
but when the animal is lean, it has 
a strong smell of musk which onlj* 
a ravenous appetite can overcome. 
Expeditions in the arctic regions 
have frequently relied on the musk- 
ox for their supply of fresh meat, 
and in several instances these ani- 
mals have been the sole support 

of parties for several months. They are not easy to approach, and can 
run very fast in spite of the shortness of their legs. 

So much for the musk-ox, which our friends left with a sigh, and the 
Doctor half regretted having wasted a bullet upon. " What a pity he did 
not come down to our camp to be shot," said Fred, " as he would then have 
been handy for us to use. The only proper way of hunting is to bring- 
in your game alive, and then kill it when it is wanted." 

They traced the course of the glacier to the sea, but found nothing of 
consequence after walking five or six miles. Then it was time to return, 
and they decided to follow the shore back to camp — or rather the Doctor 
and the major did so, while the youths went to bring in the steaks for sup- 
per. The walking was not so easy along the shore as it was at the ridge 
farther inland. A good deal of the ground was covered with snow, and 
all the hollows were filled with it; generally it was hard enough to bear 
the weight of a man, but this was not always the case, and whenever it 
gave way the walking was laborious. 

In some places the shore sloped from the ridge down to the water, or 
rather to the ice, while in others it was steep and precipitous. Wherever 
there were any cliffs there was a great number of birds, and their tameness 
showed that they were not accustomed to the visits of man. There were 
gulls, auks, eider-ducks, lumme, and several other members of the feathered 
tribe, but it was too early in the season to find their nests. Ten or twelve 



220 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



ducks were obtained by knocking them down with stones, and the major 
said he could have killed a hundred in this way if he had wished to do so. 
Here and there, where the ground sloped to the water, they found pieces 
of drift-wood, and when they reached the camp the major was rejoiced to 
find that the dog-drivers had had the forethought to gather enough wood 
during the clay to make an excellent fire. Thus the cooking of their food 
was provided for, and they were not long in getting the ducks ready for 
broiling. The youths arrived a few minutes after the major and Doctor 
had reached camp, bringing as much of the meat of the ox as they could 
well carry. 




DUCKS ON PRESIDENT LAND. 



In a quarter of an hour or so the French explorers appeared, and were 
welcomed with a loud cheer by the Americans. They had been about ten 
miles to the eastward, over ground similar to that traversed by the Ameri- 
cans, but somewhat more broken, and their progress had been stopped by 
a ridge of rocks and a glacier which they were unable to cross without 
the proper appliances for ice-travel. Just beyond the ridge was a conical 
rock two or three hundred feet high, and so far as they could ascertain it 
was the most elevated point in the neighborhood. One of the officers 



DISCOVERY OF A COAL-BED. 



221 




THE " DKVIL'S THUMB,"' NEAR MELVILLE BAY. 



made a sketch of the rock, which he named the "Butte Napoleon;" the 
major said it resembled the "Devil's Thumb," at the entrance of Melville 
Bay, which had been so named on account of its fancied similarity to an 
enormous thumb pointing in the air. Near the base of this ridge a seam 
of coal was found, and the indications on the surface showed that it was 
apparently of great extent. George and Fred at once suggested the for- 
mation of the " Vivian-Gambetta Coal Company, Limited," but the party 
was altogether too weary from the day's exertions to draw up the articles 
of incorporation. 

The Gambetta party had been successful in hunting, as they had killed 
a bear which proved both young and fat, and what was of more conse- 
quence, he was shot within less than half a mile of camp. The skin was 



222 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

utilized as a sledge for transporting the meat to the sea-shore, and by the 
time the sun went down all the explorers were at their tents. The Amer- 
icans divided their ducks and beefsteaks with their French allies, and the 
latter returned the compliment with an abundant supply of bear-meat, for 
feeding the dogs from the Vivian. Men and dogs went to sleep with full 
stomachs — au excellent preparation for the fatigues of the return journey 
to the ships. 

In the morning there was some difficulty in getting the sledges on the 
ice again, as there was a movement of the field along the shore. During 
the night a strong breeze blew from the south-west, and an hour or so 
after it set in the crashing and grinding of the ice along the shore showed 
that it was in motion. Cracks and narrow lanes were opened in two or 
three places, and a good many huge blocks were forced upon the beach. 
It was evident that the explorers ought to get back to the ships as speedily 
as possible, or they might find themselves altogether cut off from retreat- 
by the breaking up of the ice. 




AN EMPTY SLEDGE. 



A practicable spot was found close to the French tent, and, without 
waiting for breakfast, all the teams started over the route they had come 
a couple of days' before. ' Following the lane already described, through 
the rough ice, they reached the smooth field and then halted for rest and 
food; The remains of the supper of the previous evening served for the 
morning meal, with the addition of pemmican and tea; the dogs looked 
wistf idly on, but it would have been contrary to custom to feed them im- 
mediately before the long run which they were to make. Soon as breakfast 
was over the journey was resumed; but it was not accomplished as quickly 
as the outward one, owing to several cracks in the ice, over which it was 
necessary to lift the sledges. Before the line of hummocks was reached 
the ships were plainly discernible, and each had a large flag flying, to 
enable them to be made out as easily as possible. The major thought 
the position of the ships had been changed considerably since the party 



AGAIN ON THE SHIPS.— A GALE. 223 

left them, and the Doctor agreed with him. It seemed that they were 
farther to the east than, before, and evidently the drifting had increased 
during their absence. 

When they readied home again they were welcomed with all the hon- 
ors. Both ships were dressed in flags, a salute of two guns was fired by 
the Vivian and a similar one by the Gambetta, and the crews were ranged 
at the gangway to greet the travellers with three ringing cheers. Com- 
mander Bronson said he had been watching for their return since morn- 
ing, and the movement of the ice had caused a. good deal of alarm for 
their safety. A man had been kept in the crow's-nest with the most pow- 
erful glass the ship possessed, to watch out for them and .report their ap- 
proach ; and the same precaution had been taken on the Gambetta. The 
lookout on the latter ship was the first to announce the return of the 
sledges, and therefore the French captain was consoled, to some extent at 
least, for the march the Americans had stolen on him in starting ahead 
of his party, and taking possession of the land before his people could get 
there. 

It was late in the afternoon of the second day from land when the 
sledges reached the ships, and the wearisome journey was ended. The 
best supper that could be provided on board the Vivian was ready for 
our friends, and they sat down to it with the keenest of appetites. During 
the progress of the meal they told the story of their adventures, and of 
the addition they had made to the geography of the arctic regions. After 
supper Fred proceeded to designate on the map the position of President 
Land ; the point where the sledges reached it was set down as latitude 
83° 24' north, longitude 115° 10 / west. It was known to extend about 
ten miles east and west from that point, but of its area to the north they 
were entirely ignorant. 

The breeze continued to blow from the south-west, and by morning it 
had increased to half a gale. The ice heaved and cracked in many places, 
and the progress of the field to the north and east was more rapid than 
ever. Everybody was on the alert, and the developments of each hour 
were looked forward to with the greatest anxiety. The dogs and sledges 
were taken on board the ship, but the casks of provisions that had been 
placed there in the event of the sinking of the Vivian were allowed to 
remain, as they might be needed at any moment. While it was desirable 
to be prepared for the loss of the ship, it was equally necessary to be 
ready to float away in her in case she should be released from her icy 
prison. The boats were made ready for launching; clothing, provisions, 
and equipments were piled close to the rail, ready to be thrown out at a 



224 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN.'? 



moment's warning; and those who were not on duty went to sleep with 
their clothes on and their knapsacks by their sides. It is hardly necessary 
to add that, under the circumstances, nobody slept soundly. 

Discipline was carefully maintained. The watches were changed as 
regularly as though the weather was of the finest and the ship were sail- 
ing across the Pacific under the steady influence of the trade-wind. As 
the day advanced, the movement of the ice increased; a little past noon 
a large crack opened from the bow directly ahead, and another parallel to 
it a hundred yards away. About the middle of the afternoon the man in 
the crow's-nest called out "Land J" and of course everybody was full of 
anxiety to see it. 




COAST SCENE IN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 



It was fully half an hour before it could be made out from the deck, 
and then only faintly. From the course they had been drifting it was 
evident that the land in sight was the region lately visited by the sledges-, 
and if they continued to go. on as they were then proceeding, they would 
be close upon it by the following morning. The Doctor went to the 
crow's-nestj and w T as quite positive he could recognize the " Butte Napo- 
leon" from the description and drawing of the French officers. It' was' 
thought that the land was about fifteen miles distant, and in the course 
they were drifting they jwould pass to the eastward of it. 



IN A HIGH LATITUDE. 225 

Some of our readers may wonder that they were so near the land be- 
fore seeing it. It must be remembered that the island was covered with 
snow, except in a few places, and consequently its appearance was almost 
identical with that of the ice-fields which surrounded it. The weather 
was hazy, and a clear horizon was the exception rather than the rule; and 
furthermore, the land was not sufficiently elevated to be visible at a great 
distance, even if all the other conditions had been favorable. 

" Well, we can't go ashore just now," said the Doctor, when he returned 
to the deck, "and it's lucky we embraced the opportunity when we did." 

" Yes," responded the major, " and it's luckier that we embraced the 
opportunity to get back again. If w T e had remained there another day 
it is doubtful if we would have returned at all." 

The subject was not a pleasant one for contemplation. Nobody liked 
to think what would have been their fate if left on that desolate and 
hitherto unknown island, and the conversation took another turn. 

"If we go on in this way without accident," said the commander, " we 
may be at the pole before the middle of summer. But I confess I don't 
understand it altogether." 

"•Nor do I," said Captain Jones, who had just joined the group. 
" Here is the ice threatening to break up in the beginning of May, fully 
two months before we have any reason to expect it. It looks very much 
as though we were on the borders of the Polynia of the Russians, and the 
barrier was about to divide, and let us into the open polar sea." 

"At any rate," replied the commander, "we are beyond the latitude 
of any previous navigator, and must not be surprised at anything. By to- 
morrow noon we will be north of the 84th parallel of latitude, which has 
never yet been passed by man. Parry turned back at 82° 45 ; ; Hayes at 
81° 37'. Captain Markham, of the British Expedition of 1876, reached 
the highest point yet attained, 83° 20' 26." In 18S1 the United States ship 
Alliance, in search of the Jeannette, went along the coast of Spitzbergen to 
80° 10' north, and longitude 11° 22' east. And here we are, within six 
degrees or three hundred and sixty miles of the pole ! If we can — " 

A call from the lookout aloft arrested their attention. Captain Jones 
mounted rapidly to the crow's-nest, and then, with more excitement than 
was usual with him, he shouted to Commander Bronsou. 

The latter lost no time in ascending to the captain's side. The rest 
of the party waited breathlessly below while their superiors were observ- 
ing the state of the ice, and the conditions ahead of the drifting floe. 
After what seemed hours to our friends, but was really less than twenty 
minutes, the commander returned to the deck, leaving the captain aloft. 

15 



226 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



"The way we are now drifting," said he, "will carry ns close to what 
appears to be a point of land projecting to the eastward of the 'Butte 
Napoleon.' The ice is being forced on this point, and we can see it heav- 
ing and breaking, and piling up as it is pushed onward by the wind and 
current. Outside the point the floes are much broken, and our position 
is a perilous one. If we drift upon the point we shall be hopelessly 
wrecked, unless something little short of a miracle should save us ; if we 





A SHELTER FROM THE ICE. 



clear the point we shall be in danger from the floes that are crashing 
against each other, and our hope must rest in the unusual strength of our 
ship. As we are going we can hope to clear the point, but may not do so ; 
the Gambetta will certainly clear it, but then she will be in the peril I have 
mentioned from the breaking of the ice." 



A GLOOMY PROSPECT. 



22' 



The casks of provisions were hoisted on board and piled close to the 
rail, where they could be thrown overboard in case of necessity. 

The sun had set, and the twilight of the arctic was upon them. " Shall 
Ave ever see the sun again?" was the question which each asked himself as 
he watched the disappearance of the orb of day. 

The captain descended from the rigging, and the party retired to the 
cabin. They could plainly hear the creaking and groaning of the ship 
as the ice moved around her, and occasionally there came a sound louder 
than usual which told of the extraordinary strain upon their floating home. 
There was little conversation at supper, and as soon as the meal was over 
the commander said they must get what sleep they could during the night, 
and be .prepared to leave the ship at any moment. The same precautions 
were taken as on the night before, but every one realized that the peril 
was more imminent, and escape from the ship was by no means indicative 
of an escape with life. 

There was little sleep on the Vivian, and the same was doubtless the 
case on the Gambetta. All were anxious for the morning, and for hours 
and hours it seemed to Fred and George that the darkness was without 
end. 




EFFECT OF AN ARCTIC GALE. 



228 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER XVI. 



ESCAPE FROM THE ICE.— IN THE OPEN POLAR SEA.— STEAMING AND SAILING TO 

THE NORTH. 



w 



ITU the first blnsli of dawn our young friends were on deck. Fred 
recalled the lines in one of his school-books : 

" The night, the long, dark night at last 

Passed fearfully away. 
'Mid crashing ice and howling blast 

They hailed the dawn of day, 
Which broke to cheer the whaler's crew, 
And wide around its gray light threw." 

The Vivian was standing upright in the ice, as she had stood for 
weeks, but the Gambetta was heeled over so that her yards almost touched 
the water. The point of land, concerning which there had been so much 
anxiety on the previous evening, was about a mile awa}', on the port side 
of the Vivian, and the ice was piled upon it in great masses, which ap- 
peared in some places hundreds of feet in height. It was an immense 
relief to know that the ship had weathered this miniature cape, and they 
had not to contend with the horror of being dashed upon it. And oh! 
welcome sight, which they had not known through all that long winter, 
beyond the jutting point there was an expanse of open water ! True, it was 
encumbered with cakes of ice that stippled its surface as far as the eye 
could see, but compared with what they had known during their imprison- 
ment, it was like a pellucid lake in the mountains. 

Around them the ice-field was cracked and broken in many places, 
and several lanes of water were visible. The telegraph line connecting 
the ships had been taken up soon after the return of the explorers from 
the island, and when the increasing wind made it probable that the ice 
would move more rapidly to the northward. The route where the wire 
had been stretched could be traced over the mounds of ice, except in two 
or three places where there had been extensive breaks in the field, and 
some of the mounds had altogether disappeared. Communication between 



RELEASED FEOM THE ICY PRISON. 



229 



the ships was conducted by signal-flags; when the Gambetta heeled over, 
our friends expected every moment the announcement that she was sink- 
ing, but as she displayed no signal, it was concluded that there was no 
immediate danger. 

They drifted with the ice as before, but appeared to move in a circui- 
tous direction, in consequence of the edge of the field impinging on the 
land. Suddenly there was a loud crash, and the ice split in front of them, 
directly in line of the crack which had opened the evening before. The 
land-ice, as we may call it, swung away from the ship, while the rest re- 
mained practically in its former position ; then the Vivian heeled over, 
broke loose from the floe, righted to an even keel, and was afloat ! 




NEAR THE ICE. 



The captain ordered the engineer to get up steam as soon as possible. 
The fires were ready for lighting, and in a few minutes a dense volume of 
smoke was pouring from the funnel. 

The lane in front of them widened as the floes swung apart from each 
other, and though the water was full of floating cakes, it was comparatively 
open and suitable for navigation. Pending the readiness of the engines 
to propel the ship, the sails were spread; their influence was quickly felt, 
and almost instantly the Vivian was forging ahead, with the water rippling 
beneath her bows. 

In spite of the peril of their position, with the ice on three sides and 



230 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

the land on the fourth, Captain Jones called for three cheers as the ship 
began to move. Officers and men responded with all the vigor of their 
lungs; whatever danger might threaten them, it was a great delight to be 
free once more, and they signified their feelings by the energy with which 
they cheered. As the last cheer died away the Gambetta rose from her 
reclining position to an even keel; the Vivian fired a gnu and ran up a 
flag in token of congratulation, to which the French ship responded in the 
same manner. 

The lead showed ten fathoms of water; the captain ordered the helm 
aport, so that the Vivian could reach the expanse of water formed on the 
lee side of the point of land we have described. In a little while there 
was sufficient steam for turning the screw, and with engines to aid the 
sails the Vivian soon found a harbor. 

At the same time the Gambetta was in motion. The ice did not open 
as readily around her as around the Vivian, for the reason that it was not 
drawn to one side by its contact with the land ; but a lane formed, through 
which she crept slowly forward, partly through the aid of engines and 
sails, and partly by the efforts of her crew. The men were sent out with 
ice-anchors, which they made fast under the direction of an officer sta- 
tioned in the cross-trees; as soon as an anchor was fixed it was drawn in 
by the steam-winch, and thus the ship was slowly advanced. Finally, only 
a narrow line of ice separated her from the clear water; this was blown 
up with a can of powder, and then by hard pushing with her engines the 
Gambetta was afloat in the harbor that held the Vivian. 

Afloat and uninjured after all the peril they had passed through! It 
was an occasion for rejoicing, and as the Gambetta swung parallel with 
the Vivian and slowed her engines, the yards of both ships were manned 
by their crews, and the cheering that went up from the throats of those 
happy sailors must have astonished the listening bears and musk-cattle on 
President Land. Never before were the echoes of that harbor awakened 
by human voices, nor yet by the guns which fired a salute, each ship to 
the other, in congratulation over their release from imprisonment in the 
ice-field and the perils of the escape. 

They were in unknown waters, with the land close aboard ; consequent- 
ly it was necessary to proceed with caution, and the ships moved with only 
enough speed to give steerage - way. The Vivian was in advance, and 
nearer shore than the Gambetta, and therefore in more danger of taking 
the ground ; she kept the lead going steadily, but in no place did it show 
less than six fathoms, and there was no danger except from hidden rocks 
or shoals. 



ENTERING A NEW HARBOR. 



231 



The bay was about four miles in length from the point of the peninsula 
which had served to break up the ice, aud the next projection to the north. 
Its depth was something more than two miles, perhaps two and a half, 
and in the direction the wind was then blowing it was well sheltered. 
The farther side was terminated by a 
promontory or foreland which closely 
resembled the North Foreland of Fro- 

bi slier, at the entrance of the bay - 4ji 

named after the enterprising mariner ^ < 38± W 

of the early days of arctic explora- 
tion. The waves were breaking at 
the foot of this promontory, and be- 
yond it the ice was pressing north- 
ward under the influence of the wind 
and current. As an attempt to pass 
out of the bay might bring the ships 
into the ice again, it was deemed pru- 
dent to anchor, and make an investi- 
gation with the boats before proceed- 
ing. 

Down went the anchors for the 
first time in many weeks, and the 
chains rattling through the hawse- 
hole was a welcome sound. Then 
a boat was lowered from the Vivian, 
and another from the Gamhetta : the 

Vivian's boat rowed to the side of the Gamhetta, and it was hastily agreed 
that she should proceed to investigate the condition of the water as far as 
it could be seen from the top of the promontory. Meantime the Gam- 
hetta? s boat would take soundings in the direction of the foreland, and as 
far beyond it as would be safe to venture. 

George and the major were assigned to the work of exploration with 
the boat's crew from the Vivian, and away they went in the direction of 
the land. It was easy enough to row over the water, but not so easy to 
find a landing-place. 

Apparently the tide was out, and the beach was concealed by an ice- 
collar eighteen or twenty feet high, exactly similar to the ice-collars which 
explorers in other parts of the arctic seas have described. A rope with 
an ice -anchor formed part of the boat's equipment; this anchor was 
thrown over the ice, and after several failures it caught and held firmly. 




THE NORTH FORELAND. 



232 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN. 



Two men pulling upon it with their entire weight were not able to move 
it, and then the most nimble of the sailors climbed up and assisted the 
others to follow. Two men were left in the boat, and the rest of the 
party ascended the promontory. 




CLIMBING AN ICK-COI.LAR. 



Their attention was attracted to the vast numbers of birds that filled 
the air, and flew so close to the explorers as to be easily knocked down 
with sticks. George wanted to stop long enough to get a supply for the 
ship, but the major commanded that no delay should be made, as the 
birds were altogether a secondary consideration. 

They had an hour of the hardest kind of climbing to reach the top of 
the hill, as the broken shale which lay in many places retarded their foot- 
steps and frequently compelled them to fall on hands and knees. George 
was the first at the top, where he waved his cap and gave a loud hurrah ; 
evidently his progress was noted from the ships, as the Vivian dipped 
her flag three times in honor of his achievement, and the Gambetta did 
likewise. 

The view beyond the hill was encouraging, as it revealed a wide strip 
of open water between the land and the pack of heavy ice which spread 
away to the eastward. This water extended as far as they could see, and 
the major decided without hesitation that it would be quite safe to vent- 
ure into it. In front of the hill the ice-pack was not more than a quartei 



GATHERING BIRDS' EGGS. 



233 



of a mile from land ; the indications were that there was plenty of water 
between the foreland and the ice, though this could only be made certain 
by actual soundings. 

Descending the hill they took a route different from the one by which 
they went up ; on their way down, when near the base, they hud the good- 
fortune to come upon several nests of the eider-duck, of the variety known 
as the " king," which breeds earlier and farther north than the common 
eider. The birds were just beginning their period of nesting; no nest 
contained more than one egg, with the exception of two or three which 




THE LUMME OF THE NORTH. 



had two eggs each. The major said the eider-duck usually lays from five 
to seven eggs, and does not begin incubation until about the end of May. 

They gathered all the eggs they could find, and managed to get nearly 
three dozen. They killed eight or ten ducks by knocking them down with 



234: THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

sticks, and on reaching the boat they found that the sailors had secured 
as many more by the simple process of striking them with the oars when 
they flew or swam near the boat. Several liimme and auks had been 
taken in the same way, and when the boat returned to the Vivian it had 
a good supply of food for the cabin table. 

George was surprised to find that the egg of the eider-duck is about 
twice as large as a hen's egg', and when the harvest of the day had passed 
through the hands of the co.ok, he decided that the eggs were as delicious 
as they were large. While the party was discussing the novel dinner, 
Captain Jones said these eggs were considered the greatest of all delica- 
cies by the Labrador fishermen; and in the season when they were obtain- 
able the whalers in the far North had all they wanted to eat. He said 
he had frequently gathered fifteen or twenty dozen in half an hour or so 
on the islands where the ducks have their breeding- places, and that the 
down from the nests paid them handsomely for their work. 

George's curiosity was aroused, and he wished to know more of the 
process of obtaining down from the eider-duck. 

"I can't tell you exactly," replied the captain, "as I have never studied 
the habits of the bird very carefully; but I believe that when the eggs are 
laid the female plucks the down from her breast and places it around 
and beneath them. After she begins incubation the male bird deserts 
her, and when she has occasion to leave the nest in search of food, she 
pulls the down over the eggs to keep them warm during her absence. 
If the nest is robbed of eggs and down, she finds another mate and begins 
the work over again; and if she is robbed a second time, she seeks a new 
mate. As she has stripped her breast of all its down to supply the two 
nests, the third is supplied by her last companion. 

" The down from a nest will fill your hat, but it doesn't weigh more 
than an ounce, and generally less. I have seen nests that yielded two 
or three ounces, and have heard of some that contained half a pound of 
down, but I never saw them, and xery much doubt if anybody else ever 
did." 

The captain further said that the down was worth three or four dol- 
lars a pound in the English market, and was highly prized on account of 
its lightness and warmth. 

While our friends were absent on land another boat had been making 
a survey of the harbor under the charge of the Doctor and Fred. They 
had taken soundings in several places, finding plenty of water for anchor- 
ing within a hundred yards of the shore, and made a tracing of the shore- 
line, together with the bearings, both true and magnetic. They named 



LEAVING BRONSOX BAY. 



235 



tlic place "Bronson Bay," in honor of their commander, and with the 
assent of the major the promontory which the latter had ascended was 
designated " Clapp's Cliff," in commemoration of the event of the day. 

Meantime the crew of the Gambettd' 's boat had made soundings to the 
front of the foreland, and found plenty of water; they were in some 
danger from the waves, which broke rather furiously at the base of the 
steep rock, but by keeping well out from the shore they escaped accident. 
It was decided to steam around the foreland and into the open water 
beyond it, and as the Gambetta 'had made the soundings she took the lead. 




VIEW FROM TONN1CR S ISLAND. 



Steaming slowly as before she made the passage without hinderance, 
and then the Vivian followed. Once around the foreland they had plenty 
of water; and though it was full of fragments of ice, like the bay they 
had just left, there was not enough to trouble them. Keeping a sharp 
watch for shoals and rocks, throwing the lead continually, and holding 
themselves as far from land as the ice-pack would permit, the vessels kept 
on for some twenty miles or more, when they were stopped by another 
projection of land. The ice-pack was crowded close up to this projection, 
and was so dense that it was not deemed prudent to venture into it with- 
out further investigation. 



236 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

Again they anchored, and this time the fires were drawn, in order that 
there might be no unnecessary consumption of coal. Besides, it was the end 
of the long arctic clay, and everybody was sufficiently tired out to need a rest. 

The next morning there was great activity on both ships. Each of 
them sent a boat to land, and another to explore the bay where they were 
anchored; the land parties were provided with rifles and shot-guns, as 
well as scientific instruments, and were instructed to bring in any game 
they could find, in addition to determining the position of the bay and the 
character of the water beyond, if any could be seen. The Viviarfs boat 
was the first to get away, but it was thought proper to allow the Gambetta's 
people to be first on shore, inasmuch as they had given the Vidian's 
party the exclusive occupation on the previous day. 

Without following the movements of all the parties in detail we will 
see what they accomplished. 

The bay was simply an indentation in the land, about twenty miles 
long, sheltered from southerly and north-westerly winds, and other winds 
between them to the west, but open to all others. It was named " Girard 
Bay," in honor of the captain of the Gambetta. 

At the northern end of the bay there was a steep cliff or bluff about 
three hundred feet high, which was named " French Head," to commemo- 
rate the nationality of the flag that was unfurled from its summit. 

The position of French Head was found to be latitude 84° 31/ north, 
longitude 114° 45' west. 

About four miles south of French Head the bay was studded with 
rocky islands, of which only two or three could be visited, on account of 
the ice that filled the channels. The Doctor and Fred climbed to the top 
of one of these islands (which was named in the Doctor's honor), and the 
young man made a sketch of the scene while they rested from the fatigue 
of the ascent. 

The party that ascended French Head reported that the pack-ice filled 
the horizon to the eastward, and there was no hope of escape in that direc- 
tion ; but there was open water north of the cliff, and the coast seemed 
to trend away to the westward. If they could manage to pass the cliff, it 
was the opinion of the officer in charge of the observation that the} r could 
go at least twenty-five miles, and perhaps twice or three times that dis- 
tance, without obstruction. 

At one time the ice seemed inclined to sweep away from French Head 
and allow them to pass. Steam was ordered on the ships, and the signal 
of recall for the boats was set; but before they could return, and the vessels 
got ready to move, the ice closed in again. 



A CHANNEL DISCOVERED. 



237 



The parties were not especially successful in hunting, as they saw noth- 
ing larger than birds. The fact was they had no time to spend in sport, 
as they were chiefly occupied with their observations. The second day of 
their stay in Girard Bay was principally devoted to hunting; and as the 
birds were very tame, they were knocked down by hundreds. The crews 
of both ships had an ample repast from this source of supply, and so did 
the dogs, though the latter would have preferred fish or beef. They 
bolted the birds, feathers and all, and when a dog had finished his orni- 
thological breakfast he had a fringe of feathers around his muzzle which 
seemed to change him into a hitherto unknown specimen of the canine 
race. 




FUENCH HEAD. 



One of the hunting parties came back with a report of the existence 
of a channel just back of French Head, which might let the ships through 
into the open water to the north. They had entered it from the little 
group of islands explored by Dr. Tonner and Fred, and in their chase for 
birds they ascended it a mile or more. The tide was running through it 
very gently, but enough to show that there was communication between 
Girard Bay and some other bodj T of water. 



238 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

A couple of days were spent in exploring this channel, a boat going 
from each ship for that purpose. The result of the exploration was that 
the channel was found a dangerous one for the ships to enter; it was 
narrow in many places and quite tortuous, and there were several ugly 
rocks along the way. The passage was possible,- but very hazardous, and 
it was determined not to attempt it until all chance of escape around 
French Head was hopeless. 

For nearly a fortnight the ships remained at anchor in Girard Bay, 
waiting a favorable opportunity to continue their journey. All the scien- 
tific men of the expeditions were busy with observations on the flora, the 
fauna, and other productions of President Land, and on the character of 
the rocks, the traces of miocene and pliocene formations, and other things 
that interest the geologists and students of natural history. George and 
Fred were of great assistance to their elders in making the records of the 
observations, and in packing away the specimens of the products of this 
hitherto unknown land. 

One afternoon the wind chopped suddenly round to the westward, and 
gradually increased as the hours went on. By six o'clock it was a strong 
breeze, at nine it was a high wind, at twelve it was half a gale, and by 
three in the morning it was a full-fledged gale " with its coat off," as the 
captain expressed it. 

Each ship put out an extra anchor, and everything was made snug 
aloft. "I think something '11 come of this gale," said the captain, "and 
we must make the most of it." 

Evidently "something was to come of it," as the force of the wind car- 
ried the ice out to sea and left the front of French Head quite free of 
it. Here and there scattered fragments were visible, but nothing to im- 
pede the progress of a ship. 

For twenty hours the gale blew steadily, and was of the kind that 
shaves the hair from the back of a dog, or removes the shoestrings even 
when properly tied. Then it subsided as slowly as it had risen ; the fall 
of the barometer was more moderate than is the case in southern latitudes, 
and it did not begin until an hour or so before the cessation of the gale. 

Now was the opportunity for the ships ! 

When the tempest had reached the condition of half a gale the fires 
were started in the furnaces of the ships, and by the time it was down to 
a high wind they were ready to proceed. Up came the anchors, and in 
a little while the Vivian and Gambetta had rounded French Head and 
were steaming through " International Reach," the name which had been 
given to the stretch of water beyond the promontory. 



AN ADVENTUEOUS JOUENEY. 



239 







EXPLORING THE CHANNEL. 



240 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" Didn't I say something would come o' that gale ?" said Captain 
Jones, as they steamed northward. " How I wish we had a good chart 
of this reach, so that we could go ahead at full speed. It's less than four 
hundred miles to the North-pole, and who know T s but what we've got an 
open road to it ? 

"I guess it's the same here as it is in Smith's Sound," he continued. 
"From the looks of things we've got the land-water same as we have it 
there. Frequently, when the sound is full of ice, there's an open strip 
along the western side, and not a few ships and boats have made their 
way north through that w r ater." 

Yes, they had the land-water, and w T hat was more, the strip widened 
as they went north ; or, rather, the land trended away to the north-west, 
while the edge of the ice-pack seemed about on a due north-and-south 
line. As they hauled away from land the sounding-lead showed a steady 
deepening of the water. Five miles from the shore-line they had thirty 
fathoms, and then it was deemed safe to increase the speed to eight knots. 
But all the time the lead was kept going, and a sharp lookout was main- 
tained in the crow's-nest, on the cross-trees, and on the bows. Occasion- 
ally the lead indicated the shoaling of the water, and wmenever this was 
the case the pace was reduced to little more than steerage-w T ay until the 
soundings deepened again. 

"There's one thing in our favor," said George to Fred, as they were 
looking over the ship's side and studying the line of the coast they were 
passing, " we are in no danger of collision with other ships trying to cross 
our track." 

"Don't be so sure of that," was the reply. "Who knows but we may 
encounter a ship that has forced its way through the ice above Smith's 
Sound and is making for the pole, just as we are. The same conditions 
that have favored us may give somebody else a similar chance." 

George admitted the possibility of such an event, but was still inclined 
to the opinion that they would have plenty of sea-room. 

Observation at noon showed they were in latitude 85° 10' north, longi- 
tude 113° 5CK west. Only three hundred miles to the pole ! 

The advancing season and their high latitude had dispelled the arctic 
darkness. Daylight was continuous, and there was no necessity for lying 
by for the night, since practically the night had ceased to exist. But for 
the convenience of chronology they continued to talk of day and night 
the same as in more southern latitudes, and we will follow their custom. 

By noon of the second day, after they had passed French Plead, the 
land was nothing more than a faint line along the western horizon, while 



AMONG THE WHALES. 241 

the ice-blink to the eastward showed that the pack was still in their neigh- 
borhood. The wind w T as steady from the west, and as a prudential meas- 
ure the tires were extinguished, and the ships relied altogether upon their 
sails. 

The farther the ships went from land the less numerous were the sea- 
birds ; but not so the whales, which were visible in great numbers. Dozens 
of them were in sight at once, and they did not appear disturbed by the 
presence of the ships. Evidently they were ignorant of the destructive 
propensities of man, as they played around the ships, and sometimes were 
altogether more familiar than was desirable. Several times, after diving, 
they came up beneath the bows of the Vivian, and were so near that they 
could have been harpooned from the ship. Once a whale scraped his back 
against the vessel's keel, but fortunately for our friends he seemed to treat 
the affair as a joke, and did not resent it. While the thickness of the Viv- 
ian's sides might have saved her from injury, it would have been a serious 
matter if he had dashed at her with the immense momentum of his huge 
body. 

"What a place for a whaler!" said Captain Jones, as he looked at 
the huge cetaceans playing in the waters. " It beats the old clays of the 
Okhotsk Sea and Scammon's Bay, when a ship could fill up in a month 
and go home. Some of 'em are good for two hundred barrels, and they're 
all to be had for the taking." 

" Sail ho !" shouted the man in the crow's-nest, and the captain's dream 
of the whaler came to an abrupt termination. 




CURIOUS APPEARANCE OF THE SUN. 



16 



242 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ICEBERGS AND GLACIERS. — LAND AGAIN. — "LA TERRE LAFAYETTE." — THE 
" VIVIAN " AT THE POLE. 

" r I MIE last place in the world for a sail!" exclaimed the captain, as he 
-*~ sprang into the rigging, and mounted with the agility of a cat. " It's 
a Yankee pole-hunter, or one of those Scotch whalers from Dundee, I'm 
sure." 

Of course there was great excitement in the party on deck during the 
captain's absence aloft, and all sorts of conjectures were made, and various 
theories propounded. The captain eyed the strange sail through a glass 
for at least a quarter of an hour ; then he scanned the horizon in every 
direction, again looked intently at the sail for ten minutes or so, and finally 
closed his glass and returned to the deck. 

" It's no sail at all," said he, with a mingled expression of satisfaction 
and disappointment on his face. "It's an iceberg, but it looks so much 
like a ship under full sail that I don't wonder the lookout was deceived. 

"It's a big one, too," he continued, "and we shall probably see more 
of 'em. It's larger than any berg we've come across yet, and I'm curious 
to know where it came from." 

A couple of hours later another iceberg was reported, and some time 
afterwards another. 

By observation and dead-reckoning, when the sail was announced, they 
were within less than two hundred miles of the pole. The presence of 
the icebergs reduced greatly the probability of an unobstructed voyage to 
the point where there is neither latitude nor longitude. 

The iceberg first seen was about four points off the port bow, while 
the second was almost dead ahead. It was not considered advisable to 
change the course of the ship in order to look at one mountain of ice, 
when another could be reached without any divergence. The Vivian held 
her way, and in due time reached and passed the second iceberg; ,it was 
so nearly in her course that she was obliged to turn aside a little in order 
to keep at a respectful distance. 



NEAR AN ICEBERG. 



243 



As well as they could estimate its size, it was fully half a mile long 
and a third of a mile broad ; an enormous belt seemed to encircle it, as 
though the layer of snow in one year had been different from what pre- 
ceded and followed it. This appearance is not at all unusual in icebergs; 
Captain Hall describes one of exactly the same formation, and says he 
gave it the name of " the belted iceberg," on account of its enormous 



girdle. 




THE BELTED ICEBERG. 



The part of the berg below the water was much broader than the por- 
tion above, and accounted for its ability to float in the depth they were 
navigating. Just as they were in front of it a mass "as large as a church" 
broke off from one side and fell into the water with a loud splash. The 
wave it created caused the Vivian to pitch and roll as though in a heavy 
sea. 

" You see the advantage of not going very near those fellows," said the 
captain. " If we had been close up to the side of that berg we might 
have been swamped." 

Everybody could see the force of the captain's assertion, and there was 
no inclination for a nearer view of the white-robed stranger. Naturally 
they discussed the origin of the bergs, and wondered whence they had come. 

" I think," said the captain, " we shall find land before long, and that 



244 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

it contains glaciers which have given birth to these bergs. It's a pity we 
conld not explore President Land more thoroughly than we did ; it would 
be interesting to know whether it had more glaciers in it than what we 
saw there." 

There were many fragments of ice floating in the water; in fact, during 
all their voyage in the polar sea thus far, they had never been entirely free 
from them. After passing the bergs we have described, the number of 
floating fragments increased, and it began to look as though the way to 
the pole was far from being an open one. 

The weather changed for the worse ; it became colder, and the sky 
was frequently overcast. Once in a while a snow-squall set in, and made 
it impossible to see far ahead ; at such times the ice was decidedly dan- 
gerous, and it became necessary for the ships to shorten sail. 

"After all," said Commander Bronson, while they were passing through 
one of these squalls, " we could not expect a long continuance of the fine 
weather that followed the gale. The polar regions can hardly be unlike 
the rest of the world ; storms and calms follow each other, and so we may 
expect an offset to the weather that has favored us." 

The squall lasted for an hour or more, and then the sky became clear 
again. The wind continued favorable, and by varying her course now 
and then the Vivian managed to make good progress and avoid all injury 
from the ice. 

The captain's prediction was realized, for within less than twenty hours 
after he made it land was sighted. It proved to be somewhat more moun- 
tainous than President Laud, and as the Vivian approached it the front 
of a glacier was plainly to be seen at the end of a triangular bay. An 
iceberg which had recently broken off was lying inside the entrance of the 
bay and nearly filled it; the berg appeared to be resting on the ground, 
■and the captain said it would be necessary for a good deal of it to be 
melted away by the sun before the rest could float and find its way out 
to sea. 

They coasted along the land, looking for a good point to send a boat 
on shore, as the bay where the iceberg lay was not considered favorable. 
At length an opening was seen through a cliff, and as there was good an- 
chorage in the vicinity, the Vivian furled her sails and came to a stop. 
The Gambetta continued, with the evident intention of sending a boat on 
shore at another point and making the exploration as extensive as possible. 

Great flocks of birds were seen on the cliffs, and while the boat with 
the Doctor and Fred was gone to explore the land, another carrying the 
major and George went to lay in a stock of game for the table. 



A DANGEROUS POSITION. 



245 




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246 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

The} 7 rowed along towards the base of the cliff, and as they did so a 
sound reached their ears like the rumbling of a railway train or the fall 
of a cascade. It increased as they approached the cliff, and finally be- 
came so loud that they could hardly hear each other. The noise was 
made by the birds that had just begun their period of nesting, or, as 
George expressed it after seeing the way the birds lay their eggs, "their 
period of rocking." 

"You .observe," said the major, "that the face of the cliff consists of 
a series of steps or ledges from one to two or three feet deep. These birds 
are the In in me, which we saw on President Land, and they are common 
through all the arctic regions. 

" The female lays only one egg, and this she deposits on the bare ledge 
of rock. Look at the creatures and see how they are stowed away there." 

George looked, and saw that the birds were sitting close together, with, 
their heads outward, but they were not keeping xevy quiet. In some 
places they were packed in solid rows, and so near were they to each 
other that where the ledges were narrow and frequent they almost hid the 
face of the rock from view. 

" The female bird can only cover her egg by placing it upright," the 
major continued. " This she does with her bill, and tlien she sits down 
on it and waits for the hatching. If she doesn't keep quiet she may top- 
ple the egg over the ledge, where it is broken by the fall, and then she is 
eggless. 

" When she has lost her egg, she watches her chance to steal another. 
The birds are obliged to leave their eggs occasionally in search of food, 
and when one does so she generally finds on her return that some other 
bird has stolen her property and is sitting upon it. She accuses somebody 
of the theft, and there is a fight ; and that's what all that noise is about. 

"Sometimes the fight becomes general, and dozens of birds will be 
engaged in it. In the tumult many of their eggs are rolled over the cliff, 
and the losers content themselves by stealing the first they can seize. For 
this reason one of these lumme rookeries is the noisiest place you can 
imagine." 

The first shot sent a great many birds into the air, and for a time it 
looked as though a cloud had come between the boat and the sun. Each 
shot brought down several birds, and the work did not require any exercise 
of skill. In a little while they had all the boat could carry, and then made 
the best of their way back to the ship. 

As there was no probability that the shore-party would return for sev- 
eral hours, Captain Jones decided to change his anchorage and send out 



ABUNDANCE OF GAME. 



247 



two boats to secure more birds. The Gambetta anchored two or three 
miles farther north than the Vivian, and sent a boat on shore; then she 
followed the Vivian's example and sent two boats after lumme, so that the 
flocks were a o-ood deal disturbed. 





lift'' -•# 

Willi 'Ti^ "F'PrH 




SHOOTING LUMME. 



Two or three hours sufficed to supply both ships with all the birds they 
wanted. The lumme is less desirable than the duck as an article of food, 
but he is a great deal better than no bird at all. Officers, men, and dogs 
had all the lumme they wanted, and the feast was enjoyed by all con- 
cerned. 

The shore-parties had been ordered not to remain on land more than 
ten or twelve hours, and to return immediately in case of a signal to do 



248 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

so. A snow -squall arose, but was of short duration, and as there was 
enough to do in examining the coast where the ships were hying, the ex- 
plorers on land were allowed to stay the full time allotted to them. 

Twelve hours after their departure Fred and the Doctor returned; 
they were pretty well tired out with their excursion, and had excellent ap- 
petites for the dinner which awaited them. They reported that the land 
was principally a mass of rock, and they had been able to go only about 
two miles from where they left the boat. They had gone to the rear of 
the cliff, which they estimated to be not far from five hundred feet high, 
and found that there was a range of hills in the interior, bordering a broad 
valley filled with a glacier. It was the same glacier they had seen in the 
bay, and was much wider where they saw it than at its entrance into the 
sea. Through an opening in the hills they could see another glacier, but 
could give no estimate as to its extent. 

Of course they hoisted their flag at the highest point they reached, and 
allowed it to wave for several minutes in the arctic breeze. The Doctor 
gave the name of "Mount Lincoln" to the peak, but the naming of the 
land, of whose extent they could not be certain, was courteously left for 
their French allies. 

As soon as the boat returned from shore the Vivian made sail, and 
hoisted the signal "we wish to communicate." The Gambetta remained 
at her anchorage, and the Vivian stopped again within five hundred yards 
or so of her consort. Meantime, while the Vivian was changing her posi- 
tion, the Gambettals boat returned, and the Doctor went on board the 
French ship to compare notes, and ascertain what name would be given 
to their latest discovery. 

Captain Girard felt highly complimented at the politeness of the 
Americans, and after a brief conference it was decided that the new land 
should be set down on their chart as "La Terre Lafayette''' 1 (Lafayette 
Land). The position was fixed at latitude 87° 10' north, longitude 112° 
50 r west. 

Less than three degrees from the pole ! 

The French explorers had discovered a glacier, evidently identical with 
the one seen by the Doctor and Fred. They had found the rocks very 
difficult of ascent, and though keeping a sharp lookout for bears, musk- 
oxen, and other animals, they had seen none. One of the Frenchmen 
found the tracks of a bear, but the animal that made them was evidently 
far away. At all events he did not show himself, and the party returned 
without any trophies of the chase. 

Then the Doctor returned to the Vivian, and the two ships filled away 






CAUGHT IN A FOG. 



249 



on their voyage to the North. It was understood that they would follow 
the coast unless it trended too far to the westward, but neither was to be 
hampered by the movements of the other. As far as they could see, the 
coast-line was about north and south, and if it continued in that direction 
it would not carry them out of their way. 




VIEW IN LAFAYETTE LAND. 



On they went, but unforeseen difficulties arose. They had not been 
three hours under way when a dense fog set in, and compelled them to 
lay to. What with the ice and the unknown coast it would be dangerous 
to go on ; any moment they might come in collision with an iceberg or be 
dashed on the rocks, and either fate was not to be risked. The fog lay 
thick about them for several hours, and when it lifted, the Vivian was un- 
pleasantly near a jutting headland, which terminated in a mass of rough 
and ugly rocks. The Gambetta was about a mile to the eastward, and close 
under her lee lay a huge iceberg, towards which the ship was slowly drift- 
ing. Evidently the escape was a narrow one for both navigators ! 

The sounding-lead showed a depth of eighty or a hundred fathoms in 
some places, and not more than half that amount a short distance away. 
The bottom of the sea was as uneven as the land in its neighborhood, and 
any minute they might come on a rocky islet, with no shoals around it to 
give warning of its proximity. 

The fog cleared away and the} 7 made sail again. When they had 
gone three or four miles, the Gambetta suddenly backed her sails and 
made sio-nal " I am asround." The Vivian answered that she would go 



250 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

to the assistance of her companion, and as soon as she conld get up steam 
she moved to within half a cable's length of the stranded ship. Mean- 
time the Gambetta had made steam, and a cable was passed to the Vivian. 
The latter pulling and the former backing with all the force of their en- 
gines, the Gambetta was soon afloat and apparently uninjured. 

"Lucky it wasn't a rock instead of a shoal," said Captain Jones, as they 
dropped the Gambetta 's cable and saw it pulled on board. " I think we 
want water more than laud, and we'll give the shore a wic}e berth." 

The Vivian headed off in a north-easterly direction, and the Gambetta 
did likewise. In a couple of hours they had a hundred and fifty fathoms 
under their keels, and no sign of rocks or shoals. Then Captain Jones 
ordered the northerly course to be resumed, but commanded the officer 
of the deck to maintain their present distance from land. " If you find 
we're making it closer than ten miles," said he, "you will steer to the 
eastward. Keep a sharp lookout for islands or icebergs, and give 'em all 
the offing they want." 

Steaming cautiously along when the weather favored, and slowing 
down or stopping altogether in fogs or squalls, the ships advanced to the 
north. In clear weather the land was distinctly visible over the port side, 
but too far off for detailed observation. It seemed to be a series of cliffs 
and headlands, with now and then a stretch of comparatively level land 
of two or three miles. George thought he saw a house at the base of one 
of the hills, but a careful observation showed it to be a mass of rock curi- 
ously shaped like a human habitation. Fred was not to be outdone in 
discoveries, and excitedly announced that he had found a church over- 
looking a small village at the edge of one of the sloping plains. But the 
telescope brought him to grief as readily as it had disappointed George ; 
the church and village were clusters of large rocks, evidently deposited by 
a glacier or swept down by a flood in ages gone by. 

Every few miles the white face of a glacier was visible, and the origin 
of the icebergs that abounded in the waters w 7 as no longer a mystery. 

All things have an end, and this voyage to the North-pole was not to 
be an exception to the rule. Three days after the grounding of the Gam- 
betta there was unusual excitement on board the Vivian, and we may 
presume that the same was the case on the French ship. 

The ship's position was announced as latitude 89° 30' north, longitude 
111° west. The pole was only thirty miles away ! 

But this was not all. On their left the land seemed to terminate in a 
conical mountain eight or ten thousand feet high, and from the top of this 
mountain a column of smoke and steam floated away on the wind. 



SYMMES'S HOLE. 



251 




AN ARCTIC VOLCANO. 



"Who would have thought there was a volcano at the pole?" said one 
of the youths, as he gazed upon the novel spectacle. 

"Better, a good deal, than Symmes's Hole," remarked the Doctor, in 
reply. " Better for us, at any rate." 

" Please tell us about Symmes's Hole," said George. " Who was 
Symmes, and what was his theory ?" 

"John Cleves Symmes was born in New Jersey about 17S0," Dr. 
Tonner answered, " and died in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1829. 

"He was a captain in the United States Army, who fought bravely 
and honorably through the war of 1812, and was afterwards engaged in 
supplying the troops on the upper Mississippi with provisions. For the 
last ten years of his life he devoted himself to the elaboration of his theo- 
ries concerning the formation of the earth, and making them known to 
the public by lectures and pamphlets." 

" Was he what they call a ' crank ' in these modern times ?" one of the 
youths inquired. 

" It is not always easy to define the boundary between the scientific 
theorist and the crank," answered the Doctor, " and so I cannot answer 
your question by a simple 'yes' or 'no.' 

" Captain Symmes believed that the earth was a hollow globe, open at 
the poles, the southern opening being somewhat larger than the northern 



252 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

one. According to his theory the shell of the earth was about a thousand 
miles thick, and the northern opening two thousand miles in diameter. 
Take an orange four inches in diameter, with a very thick rind, cut holes 
at top and bottom, each of them one inch across, scoop out the interior 
till only the thick rind is left, and you have a fair idea of the shape of the 
earth according to Captain Symmes." 

" But what did he have on the inside of his globe ?" said Fred. 

" The inside was composed of land and water, like the outside," was 
the reply. " It was warmed and lighted by the sun shining in through the 
openings, first at one end of the earth and then at the other. The waters 
flowed through these openings, just as the currents How on the outside, and 
his theory was that only by such a formation of the earth could the equa- 
torial, Gulf Stream, and polar currents be satisfactorily accounted for. The 
inhabitants of the inside of the earth, if there were any, lived on a concav- 
ity, just as we live on a convexity, and they had land and water in about 
the same proportions as ourselves. 

" Captain Symmes brought forward a formidable array of facts in 
support of his theory, and he had a great many followers. His ideas were 
based on scientific reasoning, however incorrect may have been his deduc- 
tions, and his pamphlets were read with interest at the time. He delivered 
his lectures in various parts of the country, principally in the west; in the 
winter of 1826-27 he lectured before the faculty of Union College, and 
was listened to with profound respect by the well-known doctors, Knott 
and Way land. Ridicule was excited by the peculiarity of his theory, and 
'Symmes's Hole' became a by-word; but there is no doubt that he was a 
man of intelligence, honor, and integrity. He secured the attention of 
the scientific and scholarly men of his day, and was so confident of the 
correctness of his theory that he offered to command an expedition to 
verify it." 

At times the clouds closed in upon the volcano and concealed it from 
sight, and at others only the sharp cone at the summit was visible. Our 
young friends longed to go on shore and be the first to ascend this hither- 
to unknown mountain, but the suggestion was not favorably received. 
"We will visit the pole first of all," said Commander Bronson, "and then, 
if circumstances favor, we'll explore the land in the vicinity. The oppor- 
tunity to get to the pole does not come every clay." 

They left the smoking mountain behind them as they moved onward 
towards the north. Before them the sea was stippled with fragments and 
patches of ice, but there was no indication of solid earth. The Gambetta 
was abeam of the Vivian, and about half a mile distant; as the land 



INCREASING THE SPEED. 



253 



began to recede, Captain Jones observed that the cloud of smoke from the 
French funnel was becoming more dense, and the ship was increasing her 
speed. Just as he did so the fog fell around them, and the Gambetta was 
hidden from sight. 

" The Frenchman's trying to beat us to the pole," said the captain, as 
he sprang to the speaking-tube communicating with the engineer. 




A VIEW THROUGH THE CLOUDS. 



What he said to the engineer was not audible to those on deck, as they 
were too far from the bridge to hear distinctly, but its effect was to in- 
crease the speed of the Vivian. As soon as the steam could perform its 
work the screw was making its maximum number of revolutions every 
minute. The captain caught the first puff of a breeze on his cheek, and 
instantly gave the order for making sail. In five minutes the sails were 
filled, and away went the Vivian at the highest speed she had made since 
passing the icy barrier. 

" We'll show him a trick or two," said the captain, displaying more 
excitement than was his custom. "We got that breeze just in time, and 



254: THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

if we can lead him a couple of miles before the fog lifts he'll have hard 
work to make it up. A stern chase is a long chase." 

The man at the wheel had plenty of occupation. The lookouts were 
continually announcing cakes of ice, and the captain had to think quickly 
in giving his orders. For two or three hundred yards around the ship 
there was comparatively clear vision, but beyond it they had to trust to 
good-fortune. The smaller cakes were not heeded, but the larger ones re- 
quired to be treated with respect, for fear of serious consequences. 

For more than an hour this excitement continued, and then the fog 
lifted. There was the Gambetta, with her engines working at their best, 
but she had neglected to make use of her sails ; the result was she was 
fully a mile astern of the Vivian, and before she could follow the latter's 
example and spread her sails another half mile had been lost. 

And the pole was less than ten miles away ! 

" Good-bye, sweetheart, good-bye !" said the captain, waving his hand 
in the direction of the Gambetta. "The American flag will be the first 
to float over the pole." 

Land was announced on the port bow. The captain mounted to the 
crow's-nest, and soon descended with the report that there appeared to be 
an island in the direction indicated. As well as he could make out, it was 
a mass of conical peaks with a volcano in the centre; but considering that 
it didn't cover the pole, he was not concerned about it for the present. 

To the surprise of every one, the disappearance of the fog was followed 
by the disappearance of the ice. Hardly a speck was visible in front of 
them, and there was no hinderance to their progress. As there was no 
chance that the Gambetta could pass them, the sails were taken in one by 
one, but they were- only partially clewed up, lest their rival might steal a 
march on them by an unexpected slant of the wind. Occasionally the 
engines were slowed a little to enable the crew to take soundings, but as 
no bottom could be found with thirty fathoms of line, it was considered 
safe to go ahead again at full speed. 

The elements combined in favor of our friends, as the clouds and fog 
rolled away and gave them a clear horizon all around. The horizon seemed 
farther off than usual, but whether this was the effect of imagination, or 
the peculiarity of the atmosphere, or because the earth is flattened at the 
poles, nobody could say. Whether the sun was stationary or not, as Cap- 
tain Hall claimed it would be at the pole, they were then unable to de- 
termine, but with the activity that prevailed in the use of instruments, a 
speedy solution of the problem was likely. All the quadrants and sex- 
tants that the ship contained had been brought on deck, and were being 






THE POLE AT LAST! 255 

applied to every use of which they were capable. Of course there were 
no stars to aid them while the sun was shining, but fortunately the moon 
was in the heavens, and proved of great assistance, to the navigators in 
determining their position. 

Whales and seals played about the ship in great numbers, and flocks 
of birds filled the air. The pole was far from being a scene of desolation, 
so far as animal life was concerned ; the captain endeavored to be calm, 
but when the whales in their total absence of fear lazily rolled on the sur- 
face within fifty yards of the Vivian, he could not help thinking what 
havoc he would make if his mission had been for oil instead of science. 

When the chronometer indicated twenty-two minutes past three o'clock 
in the afternoon (Greenwich time) of the ninth day of June, the Vivian 
described a circle in the Arctic Sea, and then stopped her engines. The 
captain announced that they were exactly over the North-pole. 

The ship was dressed in bunting, the American flag being at the fore, 
and the tricolor holding the place of second honor. The sailors mounted 
the rigging and gave three hearty cheers, the guns fired a salute in honor 
of the achievement, and while it was in progress the flags were dipped 
three times, and then three times again. The Gambetta ranged along-side 
and joined in the demonstration, and when the noisy part of the ceremonial 
was over the crew were mustered on deck, and officers and men stood 
with uncovered heads while Commander Bronson read, with deep feeling 
expressed in his rich voice, the following 

PRAYER AT THE NORTH-POLE. 

Written for the use of Captain HalVs North Polar Expedition, by Rev. Dr. Newman, of Washington, to be used 

only on reaching the Pole. 

Great God of the universe ! our hearts are full of joy and gladness for all Thy marvellous good- 
ness unto us. We have seen Thy wonders upon the deep, and amidst the everlasting hills of ice, 
and now we behold the glory of Thy power in this place so long secluded from the gaze of civilized 
man. Unto Thee, who stretchest out the north over the empty place, and hangest the earth upon 
nothing ; who hath compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end ; we 
give Thee thanks for what our eyes now behold, and for what our hearts now feel. 

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men ! We praise Thee ; we bless 
Thee; we worship Thee; we glorify Thee; we give Thee thanks for Thy great glory, Lord God, 
our heavenly King ! God the Father Almighty ! Praise Him all ye His works. Praise Him sun, 
moon, and stars of light. Praise Him ye heaven of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heav- 
ens. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapor, 
stormy winds fulfilling His word ; praise Him frost and cold, snow and ice, day and night, summer 
and winter, seas and floods. Praise Him all ye rulers and peoples of the earth. Let every thing 
that hath breath praise the Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, 
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 

In Thy name, Lord, we consecrate this portion of our globe to liberty, education, and religion, 



256 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



and may future generations reap the advantage of our discoveries. Bless the nation that sent us 
forth ; bless the President of our great republic ; bless all the people of our favored land, whose 
national banner we now wave over this distant country. 

And now may the God of our fathers guide and direct our returning footsteps to those who 
w r ait to greet us with joy in the homes and land we love. May no evil befall us ; no sin stain our 
souls; no error lead us astray from Thee and duty. -Hear us for the sake of Him who hath taught 
us to pray : Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven ; give us this day our daily bread ; forgive us our trespasses as 
we forgive them who trespass against us ; lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ; for 
Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen ! 




"njs plus ultra." 



A SAILOR'S IDEA OF THE NORTH-POLE. 257 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

DISCOVERIES AT THE POLE.— LEAVING THE POLAR SEA.— ESCAPE THROUGH THE 

ICE-BARRIER. 

FOR a description of the land discovered by the Vivian as she ap- 
proached the pole, and of the scientific observations made by both 
ships during their stay in the open polar sea, we must ask the reader's in- 
dulgence. We are permitted to state, however, that nothing out of the 
usual order of things was found there. Disappointment awaits those who 
have supposed that the North-pole is nothing more than a flag-staff firmly 
set in the earth at the point where there is neither latitude nor longitude. 
One of the sailors of the Vivian was possessed with this idea, which he 
expressed in the hearing of Frank. The young gentleman good-naturedly 
endeavored to undeceive the illiterate mariner, and made the following- 
explanation : 

" The word ' pole,' as applied to this part of the earth, does not mean a 
staff or pole of wood. It is derived from the Greek ttoXoq (polos), which 
means a pivot or axis, and is supposed to be the pivot on which the earth 
turns around once in twenty-four hours." 

" But I don't see any pivot at all," responded the sailor ; " and if there's 
a shaft for the world to turn on, it seems to me there ought to be a gudgeon 
for it to turn in." 

Fred abandoned the attempt to give instruction in physical geography 
to one who was so literal ; he contented himself with the reflection that 
the sailor was not alone in believing that the axis of the earth is something 
more than imaginary. 

Disappointment also awaits those who have imagined that the open 
polar sea is more like the tropics than the arctic regions. It is warmer 
there than farther south, as had been established by the observations of 
several explorers previous to the Vivian's voyage, but it is by no means 
like the Gulf of Mexico or the Sea of Arabia, as some writers would have 
us believe. The birds that fly to the north make their summer homes 
and their nests on the islands of the polar sea, but at the approach of 

17 



258 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



winter they retreat to the southward, like the feathered inhabitants of 
Greenland and Labrador. 

Birds are very abundant on all the islands of the polar sea, as naviga- 
tors have long believed through observing the vast numbers that fly north- 
ward. There is no one to disturb 
-i^Nlllfe them, and they can breed in perfect 
...; : ^£^\"- V V*l security, so far as the presence of man 
. : ; . ^ ^te^St * s concerned. The arctic foxes may 
^^^fe4C?.^^fc. trouble their nests occasionally, but 

St: 2 §S 







i 



AN UNAYKLCOME VISITOR. 



the number they can devour, in the egg or out of it, can make no per- 
ceptible impression on the size of the flocks. The fox goes long distances 
in search of food, and generally knows where it is to be obtained. It is 



GEORGE'S CARRIER-PIGEONS. 



259 



probable that he exists through all the islands of the far North, and might 
tell the story of the pole if he could speak or write. 

One day George made a suggestion, which was adopted by Commander 
Bronson, and also by Captain Girard as soon as he heard of it. 

"Here are these birds all about us," said George, "and they'll go 
south at the end of their breeding season. Suppose we catch as many as 
we can, and mark their wings with the date of our reaching the pole, and 
the name of the ship ; we can do this when there is nothing else to occupy 
our time; and, besides, it will not draw our attention from the scientific 
work, as the catching and marking can be done by the sailors. If we 
should be so unfortunate as not to escape from this polar sea, or be de- 
layed here for a winter or two, perhaps one of these birds will be the 
means of tellino; how far we came to the north. 




MARKING A CARRIER-PIGEON. 



" They mark the wings of carrier-pigeons iu the way I propose," he 
continued, "and it will be an easy matter to do so with these birds. Of 
course there is not one chance in a thousand, or even ten thousand, that 
one of them will fall into the hands of anybody who will find the mark, 
and know what it means; but that is a risk we must take." 

Stamps similar to those used in post-offices were prepared from mov- 
able types, giving the names of the ships and the dates of their reaching 
the pole; after that time, whenever a bird not needed for food was taken, 
the mark was placed on his wing and he was liberated. Indelible ink 



260 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

was used for the stamping, so that the mark could not be washed out by 
the sea- water. The birds objected to the business, and frequently the 
sailors were scratched and bitten in a way that would have discouraged 
persons less hardy than they were after their winter in the ice. The men 
considered it capital sport, and while the exploring and surveying parties 
were busy on the islands, the sailors occupied themselves with the con- 
version of geese, ducks, mollemokes, auks, lumme, and other feathered deni- 
zens of the polar regions, into carrier-pigeons. 

On one of the islands where they were looking for birds, the major 
and George found a vein of excellent coal coming out close to the water's 
edge. The discovery was reported to Commander Bronson and Captain 
Girard, and an examination of the specimens showed that the coal was 
identical with what the Viviarfs bunkers had been filled when she left 
San Francisco. 

Already there had been anxiety at the consumption of fuel, and this 
discovery was of great importance. The ships were taken into the little 
bay where the coal was found, mining operations were begun, and in a 
few days every available place on the Vivian and Gambetta was filled 
with fuel. 

As the end of July approached it became necessary to consider the 
future. Should they pass a winter in the polar sea or make their way 
out at once, if possible ? 

The ships had remained nominally in company after the coaling was 
completed, though frequently out of sight of each other among the islands 
around the pole, or driven apart by the winds. It was understood that 
when separated they would endeavor to meet again at the spot where they 
last exchanged signals. It was further understood that if a ship was not 
at the rendezvous four days after the last exchange of signals, she would 
not be there for four days more ; but unless she was there at the end of 
the second four days, she was detained by accident or stress of weather. 
The plan worked very well, and at each meeting notes of the surveys were 
exchanged, and much valuable informatiou was obtained relative to the 
winds and currents, by means of simultaneous observations in different 
localities. 

On the 26th of July they made a rendezvous in front of the volcanic 
island which was discovered when the ships first approached the pole. 
It was a collection of sharp conical peaks, of which the central one was 
an active volcano. Ordinarily there was little more than a thin cloud of 
smoke and steam pouring from its summit, but when the Vivian ap- 
proached it on the 26th of July it was more active than usual. 



AN INTERESTING SPECTACLE. 



261 




A VOLCANIC ERUPTION. 



"It looks as though we might witness a polar eruption," said Fred, as 
they regarded the volcano from the deck of the ship. 

" Yes," replied George, "a pyrotechnic display in honor of our fare- 
well." 

As they drew near they found the violence increasing. Columns of 
smoke and steam rose high in air, and formed a, dense cloud above them; 
ashes fell on the Vivian's deck, and with the aid of their glasses they 
could see stones ejected with great force, as though thrown from a cannon. 
A stream of lava poured down the side of the mountain, and reached the 
sea at the end of a narrow bay at its base. There were loud reports, re- 
sembling the crashing of whole batteries of artillery fired at once, and 
altogether the scene was like what may be witnessed at the eruption of a 
volcano in more accessible regions. 

Both the youths desired to go on shore, and asked the permission of 
the commander to do so. But the request was refused, and strict orders 
were given that no boat should leave the ship except for communication 
with the Gambetta. There was nothing peculiar about this polar erup- 
tion, and it was not deemed prudent, under the circumstances, to risk an 
accident which might prove very serious. 

The Gambetta met the Vivian at the time and place agreed ; Captain 
Girard came on board the Vivian with two of his officers, and there was 



262 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

a conference of an hour or more on the subject of their future movements. 
It was agreed that no good was to be gained by spending a winter in the 
Arctic Sea sufficient to compensate for the attendant danger, and it was 
advisable to get out of it before the advent of the season of cold and 
darkness. 

" There are two routes we can follow," said Commander Bronson : 
" we can try that by Spitzbergen, or the one through Smith's Sound. 

" If we enter the ice-barrier, by following the meridian of Greenwich," 
he continued, "we shall come very nearly upon the track of Parry, where 
he found the ice drifting south almost as fast as he progressed to the north." 

" Tres Men" remarked Captain Girard. 

" And by following the meridian of 60° west," Commander Bronson 
responded, " we shall strike the ice-belt in the line of the farthest northing 
of the Nares expedition of 1875-76. Then if we are fortunate in finding 
a passage through the barrier we shall enter Robeson Channel, and thence 
go through Kennedy Channel to Smith's Sound. Once there we have a 
well-known route before us through Baffin's Bay, Davis's Strait, and the 
Atlantic Ocean, to an anchorage in New York harbor." 

"C'est magnijique" answered the French captain. " J e propose les 
deux routes? 

Commander Bronson thought well of the proposition, and it was ar- 
ranged that the Gambetta should endeavor to find her way out of the polar 
sea by the route of Spitzbergen, while the Vivian would seek the passage 
through Smith's Sound. Each would carry despatches and letters for the 
other, and, in order to give time for their preparation, the ships were to 
meet four days later, at or near latitude 87° north, longitude 30° west. 
At that point they would separate, and each was to make the best of its 
way homeward. 

For the next four days writing materials were in great demand on 
board the Vivian, and we may be sure the same was the case on the Gam- 
betta. The letters and official despatches were carefully enclosed in a rub- 
ber bag, whose outside bore in conspicuous letters the address of the Navy 
Department, Washington. It was to be delivered to the America!] consul 
at the first port of Europe reached by the Gambetta, and forwarded thence 
to its destination. 

The ships met as agreed, the letter-bags were exchanged, and then each 
steered away on its own course. Flags were dipped and guns fired, and 
the officers and men of both vessels cheered themselves into a condition 
of hnskiness before the freshening breeze carried them out of each other's 
hearing. Would they ever meet again '( 



IN SIGHT OF GRANT LAND. 263 

Just beyond the S6th parallel a large island compelled the Vivian to 
make a detour to the eastward, and when she turned again to the south 
she found the ice increasing in quantity. Careful observation showed that 
it was drifting to the south, and the gallant craft boldly entered the pack, 
and trusted herself to be carried where it chose to take her. 

Steam was raised on the engines as soon as the Vivian entered the ice, 
and every advantage was taken of lanes of water, or breaks in the pack, to 
work the ship to the south. The pack was not a close one, and the skill of 
Captain Jones as an ice-pilot, combined with the efficiency and persever- 
ance of his officers and crew, gave a good result. By the noon observation 
on the 5th of August they were in latitude 84° 35' north, longitude 60° 
10' west. Seventy-live miles farther they would be at the highest point 
reached by the Nares expedition. 

The ice now closed in, so that the engines were of little use, and the 
fires were put out. The usual precautions for escape in case of the loss of 
the ship were taken, and the deck was piled with provisions, clothing, and 
materials for a journey over the ice, in the same way as on the previous 
winter. For the present there was no great danger, as the ice was not as 
heavy as that which surrounded them to the north of Herald Island. But 
it was proper to be prepared for anything that might happen, and every- 
body was ordered to have his knapsack ready at his side whenever he lay 
down to sleep. 

To describe the experience of our friends in the ice-pack would be tell- 
ing over again the story of their drift to the northward, before their release 
in front of President Land. Their progress was slow, often not more than 
three or four miles a day, but sometimes it reached fifteen or twenty miles. 
On the 20th of August the coast of Grant Land was in full view, and on 
the 23d a sledge expedition was sent out in charge of Major Clapp, with 
instructions to visit the laud and seek the traces of previous navigators. 

According to the calculations they were close to Cape Sherman, and the 
little harbor where the Alert passed the winter. 

The major was accompanied by Fred and two sailors, with a team of 
fifteen dogs and one of the drivers; these dogs were all that remained 
of the original forty. Some had died of disease, others had straj'ed from 
the ship at different times, and four had jumped overboard while the Viv- 
ian was cruising in the polar sea. 

The major was instructed to observe carefully the bearings of the ship, 
and during his absence a large flag was kept constantly flying. He reached 
the land after about forty hours' travelling, and found that their calcula- 
tions were correct. A cairn supposed to have been erected by the Alertis 



264 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



crew was discovered ; but though it was carefully taken down, no record 
could be found. The major killed a musk-ox in good condition, and the 
whole party was regaled upon the flesh of the animal. Choice steaks were 
reserved, and brought back in sufficient quantity to supply the cabin table 
for a single dinner. 





A WHALE-SHIP IN WINTER QUARTERS. 



The expedition was absent three days and a half, and in the mean time 
the Vivian drifted about fifteen miles to the south. The season was so 
late that the chance of getting through Smith's Sound was very doubtful ; 
already the weather was cold, and the young ice, wherever there were any 
open spaces, formed to a thickness of two inches in a few hours when the 
wind was not blowing. 

On the 1st of September they were fairly within Robeson Channel. 
For a week the ice seemed to be very nearly stationary, and Commander 
Bronson determined to look for a good place for passing the winter, as it 
was pretty certain that Kennedy Channel would close before they could 
reach it. 

Under the influence of a strong wind from the north, the pack broke 
sufficiently to allow the ship to be warped through several leads close up 
to the eastern shore. A favorable opportunity offered to get the Vivian 
into Polaris Bay, and it was promptly embraced ; immediately afterwards 



WINTERING IN POLARIS BAY. 



265- 



the ice shut in solidly to the south, and it was decided to pass the winter 
where they were. 

The Vivian was laid up about a mile from where the Polaris passed 
the winter of 1S71-72, and there she remained until the following July. 
She was housed over in the same way as on the previous winter, and a 
high bank of snow was built around her. This bank of snow is a great 
protection against the cold, and makes a great economy of fuel during the 
long hibernation. The Hudson's Bay and other northern whalers invari- 
ably surround their ships with snow while lying up during the winter, 
and sometimes they give the embankment the appearance of a miniature 
fort. 

Fred and George were greatly interested when they learned they were 
at the scene of Captain Hall's last winter in the far North. As soon as 
they could obtain permission they visited his grave, which they had no dif- 
ficulty in finding through the description by Captain Tyson. They found 




GRATE OF CAPTAIN HALL. 



that the board originally placed there had been' blown down by the wind, 
and the inscription almost wholly obliterated. The brass tablet, which 
was placed at the foot of the grave by the Nares Expedition, was undis- 
turbed. The tablet was prepared in England, and the inscription closes 






266 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

with the words, "Erected by the British Polar Expedition of 1875, who, 
following in his footsteps, have profited by his experience." 

Another board was prepared, with a copy of the inscription taken from 
the old one, as follows: 

TO THE MEMORY OF C. F. HALL, 

LATE COMMANDER OF THE NORTH POLAR EXPEDITION, 

DIED NOV. 8, 1871. 

-A.G-KD 50 YKAES. 

When this board was ready all the officers and sailors of the Vivian 
who could be spared from duty went in procession to the grave of the 
zealous explorer, and solemnly placed the memorial at the head of his last 
resting-place. All were silent while Commander Bronson pronounced a 
brief eulogy in honor of the man whose earnestness, perseverance, and 
endurance are familiar to all those who have studied the history of arctic 
explorations. Their memories went back to that sad occasion in the long 
darkness of the arctic winter "when the crew of the Polaris buried the re- 
mains of their late commander. Here is the account in Captain Tyson's 
journal : 

'■'■Nov. 11. — At half-past eleven this morning we placed all that was mortal of our late com- 
mander in the frozen ground. Even at that hour of the day it was almost dark, so that I had to 
hold a lantern for Mr. Bryan to read the prayers. I believe all the ship's company was present, 
unless, perhaps, the steward and cook. It was a gloomy day, and well befitting the event. The 
place, also, is rugged and desolate in the extreme. Away off, as far as the dim light enables us to 
see, we are bound in by huge masses of slate rock, which stand like a barricade, guarding the bar- 
ren land of the interior; between these rugged hills lies the snow-covered plain; behind us the 
frozen waters of Polaris Bay, the shore strewn with great ice-blocks. The little hut which they 
call an observatory bears aloft, upon a tall flag-staff, the only cheering object in sight; and that is 
sad enough to-day, for the stars and stripes droop at half-mast. 

" As we went to the grave this morning, the coffin hauled on a sledge, over which was spread, 
instead of a pall, the American flag, we walked in procession. I walked on with my lantern a little 
in advance ; then came the captain and officers, the engineer, Dr. Bessel, and Myers ; and then the 
crew, hauling the body by a rope attached to the sledge, one of the men on the right holding an- 
other lantern. Nearly all ai'e dressed in skins, and, were there other eyes to see us, we should 
look like anything but a funeral cortege. The Eskimos followed the crew. There is a weird sort of 
light in the air, partly boreal or electric, through which the stars shone brightly at 11 a.m., while 
on our way to the grave." 

Lest we might weary our readers we will pass briefly over theVivian's 
second winter in the ice. The ingenuity of everybody was taxed to the 
utmost to make the long night pass without the inroads of physical and 
mental disease among the officers and crew, and it is our pleasure to record 
that the effort was successful. Hunting parties were organized whenever 



LAST HONORS TO A BRAVE MAN. 



207 




mmm 



''Jffggjb 






268 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

circumstances favored ; there were skating, leap-frog, base-ball, and other 
games in the open air; theatrical and other entertainments were given, as 
in the previous winter; classes were organized for instruction in various 
branches of education ; lectures were delivered ; and altogether, as the 
chronicles record, " the season passed off pleasantly." There was not a 
single case of serious illness in the entire crew, and nobody "sulked" or 
became despondent. What an improvement over the experiences of arctic 
wintering a hundred years ago ! 

The spring came and then the summer, or rather the spring ran so 
quickly into summer that it required a quick observer to note the period 
of transition. When the sun returned above the horizon,' several expedi- 
tions were sent out to explore the interior of the country; but they added 
nothing of consequence to the data of previous navigators. A sharp look- 
out was kept for the first sign of open water, and after the middle of June 
no one was allowed to go far from the ship. 

By the 1st of July there was open water both north and south of 
Polaris Bay, but the ship still remained in her winter position. The ice- 
drift had begun some time before, and the movement through Robeson 
Channel into Hall's Basin, and thence into Kennedy Channel, was continu- 
ous. On the 3d of July the ice in the bay broke in many places, and 
on the morning of the 4th the Vivian was free. The anniversary of 
American independence was henceforth to be doubly remembered by 
every individual of the ship's company ! 

The wind carried the ice out of the bay, and the Vivian followed it. 
Until the head of Kennedy Channel was reached, the water was compara- 
tively clear ; steam was ordered on the engines, and with its aid they made 
good progress and passed Cape Morton, at the end of Petermann Peninsula. 
Beyond this cape the channel was thickly blocked with ice, and the engines 
were powerless to force the vessel through it. 

Captain Jones watched his opportunity and made fast to a floe, in a 
position similar to that taken by the Vivian when beset in the ice off 
Herald Island. Thus protected from clanger of a " nip," the vessel drifted 
south with the ice through Kennedy Channel into Smith's Sound, the speed 
varying from one to one and three-quarter miles an hour. On the fourth 
day after leaving the winter position the Vivian was fairly in Smith's 
Sound, and the opening of the ice allowed her to make use of her engines 
once more. 

She passed near Rensselaer Harbor, where Dr. Kane wintered with the 
Advance during 1853-55. Here she was caught again in the ice, and drift- 
ed through Smith's Channel past Port Foulke, a well-known name in arctic 



A GATEWAY TO THE POLE. 



269 




MAP OF SMITH SOUND, AND KENNEDY AND ROBESON CHANNELS. 



270 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



chronology. It is the place where Dr. Hayes wintered in 1860-61, in the 
schooner United States. From that point he made a sledge journey over 
the ice, and reached latitude 81° 37' north. Dr. Hayes was a firm believer 
in the open polar sea, and down to the time of his death he entertained 
the hope of one day reaching the pole by way of Smith's Sound. 




DR. I. I. HAYES. 



Littleton Island is at the narrowest part of Smith's Sound, in latitude 
78° 24' north. Of late years it has been a place of deposit of coal and 
stores for exploring expeditions, and it contains a post-office where ships 
may obtain information of each other. Commander Bronson desired to 
visit the island, and accordingly the Vivian steamed into a little nook not 
far from the scene of the loss of the Polaris, and nearly opposite Lifeboat 
Cove, where Dr. Kane found shelter. As the Vivian dropped her anchor, 
two skin-clad forms came out from among the rocks a quarter of a mile 
away and advanced to the water's edge. Soon as a boat could be lowered 
the commander and Major Clapp went on shore, and were eagerly wel- 
comed by "the whole population." 

The inhabitants included the two individuals already mentioned, the 



AN ARCTIC POST-OFFICE. 271 

first strangers our friends had seen since leaving the coast of Siberia. 
They proved to be Inn nits or Eskimos, and luckily one of them had 
worked on an American whale-ship, and could speak enough English to 
make himself understood. He and his companion had come over from 
the main-land two or three days before, and were preparing to leave when 
they saw the Vivian. 

They guided our friends to a heap of coal, which had been left there 
the previous year by an American supply-ship, in accordance with the ar- 
rangements mentioned in the early part of this book. It was protected 
from the weather by a roof of flat stones, and on one side of the roof 
were painted the directions for finding the "Littleton Island Post-office." 
Appeuded to the directions were the words, " don't allow natives to accom- 
pany you." 

Signal was made for another boat to come ashore, and in a few min- 
utes it was dancing over the water and among the cakes of ice, bringing 
Dr. Tonner with Fred and George. The situation was quickly explained, 
and while the youths went with the natives to see the spot where the 
Polaris went ashore, the elders of the party sought the post-office. 

It was a hole in the solid rock, about a foot square and two feet deep. 
To its mouth was fitted an iron door, fastened in its place with cement, 
and so solid was the construction that no tools possessed by the natives 
could make an impression on it. The surface of the door was studded 
with the heads of bolts; turning two of these one quarter round, accord- 
ing to the printed directions issued by the Navy Department to arctic ex- 
ploring ships, and then sliding two others from the sides towards the 
centre, Commander Bronson unlocked the door of the safe where the 
letters were concealed. • 

The contents of the safe were taken on board ship for examination, and 
the door was relocked. The bolts were rusty, and the operation had re- 
quired fully half an hour, which was well employed by the youths. Ac- 
companying the natives, they had visited the spot where Captain Budding- 
ton, and those of the crew of the Polaris who were not left on the ice- 
floe with Captain Tyson, had passed the winter. The English-speaking 
native, who answered to the name of "Jack," said lie was at the island 
when Captain Buddington and his party sailed away in the two boats they 
built from the timber of the Polaris. 

He said the white men passed the winter on the island, living in a 
house they erected on shore, and fitting it up with bunks brought from 
the ship. In the spring the natives came there, and pitched their tents 
close by, so that "Polaris Camp " had for a time a lively appearance. 



272 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



Before Captain Buddington left he gave the wreck of the steamer and 
everything on shore to the chief of the Eskimos, but shortly after the trans- 
fer the steamer broke loose from her moorings in a gale and drifted out 
to deep water, where she sank. The natives were obliged to content them- 
selves with what was left on shore, but they mourned earnestly the loss of 
the ship and the abundant store of wood of which she was constructed. 




POLARIS CAMP. 



INTERNATIONAL OBSERVING STATIONS. 273 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SIGNAL SERVICE STATION.— FROM LITTLETON ISLAND TO UPERNAVIK. 

I j^YIDENTLY the post-office on Littleton Island was not extensively 
-*~^ patronized, as it contained only three letters and a newspaper, the 
latter more than a year old. The letters were for the use of any one who 
choose to read them ; they recorded the visits of exploring ships, but there 
was no news of special interest to our friends. There was a memorandum 
concerning the signal service party under Lieutenant Greely, which is 
known to the readers of the newspapers as " The Greely Colony." 

Commander Bronson read this paper carefully, and. then explained 
as follows, partly in his own words and partly from the notes : 

" Lieutenant Weyprecht, of the Austrian North-pole Expedition, recom- 
mended that a ring of observing stations should be placed around the 
pole, as near as was consistent with safety, for the purpose of making 
meteorological observations for the period of one year. His plan included 
the joint action of several nations, and at the three International Polar 
Conferences, held at Hamburg, in 1879, at Berne, in 1880, and at St. 
Petersburg, in 1881, the programme and details were settled. At the last 
meeting it was decided to delay the beginning of the enterprise from 1881, 
as first proposed, until 1SS2. Preparations had been made in the United 
States, however, for carrying out the original programme, and in the sum- 
mer of 18S1 two expeditions set out, one for the northernmost point of 
Alaska, under Lieutenant P. IT. Ray, the other, under Lieutenant A. W. 
Greely, for Discovery Harbor, Lady Franklin Bay, 81° 50' north latitude, 
and 65° west longitude, 500 miles from the pole. The other ten stations 
selected were Fort Ray, north of Manitoba, by the British ; Cumberland 
Island, north of Hudson's Bay, by the Germans ; Goodhaab, Greenland, by 
the Danes ; Jan Mayen Island, by Austria ; Spitzbergen, by the Swedes ; 
Bosskopp, near North Cape, by Norway ; a point near the White Sea, by 
Finland ; Nova Zembla, by the Russians, who had another station at the 
mouth of the Lena River in Siberia; and Dickson Haven, near the mouth 
of the Yenisei River, by the Dutch. 

IS 



274 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" The Dutch expedition failed to reach its destination, having been 
cauo-ht in the ice in the Kara Sea. Observations were made during the 
winter, however, and the party made their escape when their vessel sank, 
on the breaking up of the ice in the following summer. 

"The most northerly of these stations was manned by officers and 
men of the United States Signal Service, under command of Lieutenant 
Greely, and they went there in the summer of 1881, a year in advance 
of the rest. The expedition was carried to its destination on the steamer 
Proteus, and it was agreed that a ship should be sent to its relief in the 
following year, or in the summer of 1883 at farthest." 

" Then they have all been taken away by this time," one of the youths 
remarked. 

" Not yet," was the answer. " Lieutenant Greely was to start south by 
the 1st of September, 1883, if no help reached him before that time, aud- 
it had been arranged that the relief steamer should land stores at Littleton 
Island on her way up. Thus, in case of the loss of the steamer, he would 
accomplish his retreat in boats or on sledges, and feel sure of finding stores 
at Littleton Island. But this memorandum says the relief steamer, the 
Proteus, the same that carried him north in 1881, did not stop here on: 
her way north, and she was crushed in the ice before she could reach Lady 
Franklin Bay. Her crew returned to the south, and thus there was no 
communication with the men who had passed two winters in this very 
high latitude." 

" And what became of them ?" 

" Hopes and fears are about equally balanced," was the commander's 
answer. " We may believe that Lieutenant Greely remained at Lady 
Franklin Bay for a third winter, and found sufficient food by killing 
musk -cattle, bears, seals, and walruses before winter set in; or we may 
think he started south, was relieved by the Eskimos of Cape York, and 
reached the Danish settlements of Northern Greenland. Then there is 
ground to fear that he and his men endeavored to cany out the programme 
laid down for them, but perished of hunger on reaching Littleton Island 
and finding that the promise of a deposit of provisions had not been car- 
ried out. Of course there has been a court of inquiry; everybody con- 
cerned is endeavoring to shift the responsibility on the shoulders of some- 
body else, and with a fair prospect of success." 

" What a pity we did not know about it when we were on our way 
south !" one of the youths remarked. 

" It is indeed," answered the commander, " as we might have searched 
the bay and perhaps found the members of the observing party; besides, 



SEARCH FOR THE GREELY COLONY. 275 

we could have renewed our stock of fuel. There is said to be a fine seam 
of anthracite coal at Discovery Harbor; some say it is the finest in the 
world, and could furnish an inexhaustible supply for all the wants of 
navigation." 

"A very small seam would supply all that will be wanted for naviga- 
tion here," said Captain Jones, " and there is no chance that it can ever be 
carried to another market." 

" Well, at any rate," responded the major, " Lieutenant Greely did not 
suffer for want of fuel." 

" No, it was the existence of this vein of coal that caused the selection 
of Lady Franklin Bay as an observing station. You may be sure there 
have been plenty of denunciations of the selection since the mishap of 
1883, and dozens of scientific men can demonstrate that it was unwise. 

" Public attention has doubtless been roused by this time, and } T ou may 
be sure there will be plenty of relief sent in the summer of 1884, perhaps 
when it is too late. Some of the ships used for wdiale or seal fishing will 
be bought or chartered, and sent here as soon as the season will permit."* 

A record of the visit of the Vivian was prepared, and then the whole 
party returned to the island, carrying the letters and paper that had been 
taken from the strong-box in the rock. The most interestino- reading: to 
our friends, apart from the account of the signal service, was in a letter 
from San Francisco, printed in the newspaper which was found in the 
box. It gave a long account of the outfitting and departure of the Vivian, 
and her voyage across the Pacific Ocean. It said the latest news from her 
had just arrived by a whaling ship, which received a bag of letters from 
the Vivian in the vicinity of Herald Island. "According to what I can 
learn of the contents of the letters," said the writer of the communication, 
" the Vivian was about to enter the icy barrier in the hope of finding her 
way to the pole. Perhaps she will come out through Smith's Sound, or 
by way of Spitzbergen, and it is to be hoped the government will keep a 
sharp watch for her, as it did for the Jeannette in 1881." 

"Perhaps we shall meet a relief expedition before, we get far from 
here," said the commander, as he finished the printed letter. "Who knows 
but they will send to this very island to find us?" 

" And we're ready to be found," said the major, " although we are not 
sadly in need of relief." 

* The author earnestly hopes to be able to add a note, at the end of this volume, announcing 
the safety of the Greely party. Though not without misgivings, he believes they remained at Lady 
Franklin Bay during the winter of 1883-84, subsisting on the products of the country, as already 
indicated, and came south in the spring to meet a relief party at Littleton Island or Uperuavik. 



276 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



"If you see an opening in the ice, and a chance of getting away from 
here," said the commander to the captain, as they started for the shore 
again, " fire a gon and hoist the recall signal. We'll come back in a hurry, 
and you can trip the anchor as soon as you see us on our way. 




ESKIMO IN WINTER DRESS. 



"We might take some of this coal," he continued, as they reached 
the land, "but I don't think we'll need it as badly as some that may come 
after us. We've enough to get to Upernavik, unless we have a hard time 
in the ice on our way down." 

They returned the letters and paper to the box, and with them the rec- 
ord of the Vivian's visit. Then they clo?ed the box again, according to 
the directions, and restored the Littleton Island Post-office to its original 
condition. Of course they had been joined by their Eskimo friends as 



A NIGHT OF PERIL. 



277 




278 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

rooii as the} T landed, but these fellows had been judiciously taken to one 
side, and kept there by Fred and the major while the box was being closed. 

Then they looked around for traces of the visit of any of the Greely 
party, but found none. Evidently nobody had lived on the island since 
the crew of the Polaris wintered there, with the exception of the wander- 
ing Eskimos who had occasionally visited it for a very brief stay. 

A gun from the steamer attracted their attention, and they hastened to 
obey the signal. When they reached her side she was ready to start, and 
before they had mounted to the deck the water was churned into foam by 
the screw. 

"There's an opening in the ice around the point," said the captain, 
"and I want to make the most of it." 

"Make it as fast as you like," answered the commander; "you can't 
go south too rapidly for us. 

" It was not far from this point," said he, " that the Polaris separated 
from the floe party, as described by Captain Tyson in his narrative. The 
ship was drifting south with the ice, and was about opposite Littleton 
Island on the fifteenth day of October. A gale arose, the ship was nipped 
by the ice, and there was great fear that she would be crushed and sunk. 
Boats and provisions had been placed on the ice in anticipation of such 
an event, and while Captain Tyson and eighteen others were engaged in 
arranging things, so as to save as much as possible, the ship, to use his 
words, ' broke away in the darkness and was lost to sight in a moment !' 

"It was in the night, and a fearful snow-storm was raging. Some of 
the men were left on small cakes of ice, but were gradually brought to- 
gether by their shipmates, who made good use of the boats for this work. 
When all were assembled the boats were hauled on the ice, and everybody 
sought what shelter he could get till morning. 

" It was in this way that the remarkable voyage of Tyson and his party 
on the ice-floe had its beginning. Fortunately there were several natives 
with Captain Tyson who understood how to catch seals, and it was on seal 
and bear meat that the shipwrecked mariners mainly lived until they were 
rescued. Let us hope that we 'may not have to repeat their experience by 
a journey on an ice-floe." 

As the Vivian steamed away from her anchorage, she was followed a 
short distance by one of the natives whom they had left on shore. He was 
an object of great curiosity to our young friends, as they had not yet seen 
an Eskimo in a skin canoe. 

The skin canoe, or kyacfc, of the Eskimo is very much like the baidar 
of the inhabitant of North-eastern Siberia, both in shape and the material 



AN ESKIMO KYACK. 



279 



of which it is constructed. It is made of seal-skin stretched over a frame, 
and is sharp at both ends; it curves almost in the form of a bow from 
stem to stern, and the occupant sits 
in a hole near the centre. The skin 
that forms the deck is drawn tight- 
ly around him, so that he suffers no 
injury if the water breaks over the 
boat. 

The natives go fearlessly on the 
water in these apparently frail boats, 
and will often venture where the 
white man hesitates with his strong- 
er construction of wood and iron. 
To propel this craft the}' have oars, 
or paddles, with blades at both ends ; 
the blades are dipped alternately in 
the water, and the little kyach goes 
along at a wonderful rate. 

"They perforin curious feats with these JcyacTat" said the major, as the 
party were looking over the side of the ship and admiring the dexterity 
with which the native handled his little craft. 

"They will turn somersaults in the water," he continued, "and keep it 
up a dozen times in succession." 

Of course this assertion caused some surprise, and the major went on 
to explain : 




AN ESKIMO AFLOAT. 




SOMEKSAULX IN A KYACK. 



2S0 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

" It is proper to say that only a few can do it, and they never make the 
attempt unless a friend is present with his hyach to render any needed 
assistance. 

"I once saw a Greenland Eskimo perforin it. He turned over and 
over till we thought he did not intend to stop, and felt himself well paid 
for the feat with the present of a pocket-knife. One moment he was com- 
pletely under water and the next above it, and he was so well secured in 
his place that 'only his hands and face were wet. The danger of the per- 
formance lies in the risk of his paddle breaking while he is under water, 
and also the chance that he may make a false stroke. 

"Another trick they perform is fur a native to run his hijack over an- 
other without injury to either. This he does by dashing forward at the 
greatest speed and passing the bow of his own boat over the centre of his 
friend's, just in front of where its owner sits. There is less liability to in- 
jury to either craft than to the occupant of the one that is overrun ; a 
little miscalculation may send the point of the hyach through the man, who 
is so bound in his place that he cannot get out of the way." 

The steamer turned the point of Littleton Island and put her prow in 
the direction of Baffin's Bay. The ice covered the water to the eastward, 
close up to the Greenland shore, but along the western side of the strait 
there was open water, and the Vivian went through the loose pack with- 
out much difficulty. It was ten or twelve hours before she was fairly out 
of the ice, and where she could get alon^ without usino; her engines. 

The fires were extinguished and the ship proceeded under sail, passing 
Ellesmere Land and North Devon without hinderance. Off the entrance 
of Lancaster Sound the ice became thick again and the fires were re- 
kindled. 

From Lancaster Sound the Vivian headed south-easterly across Baffin's 
Bay, and five days and four hours after she left Littleton Island she was 
within twenty miles of the coast of Greenland, in latitude 73° 35' north, 
longitude 56° 25' west. 

"We are now," said the captain, "in the latitude of Tossac, and directly 
in front of it. It is the most northerly inhabited spot on the globe, not 
counting the dwellings of Eskimos at Cape York and other points. It 
consists of a single frame house with several huts and tents. The owner 
is a Dane, and has command of the northern district of Greenland ; he 
rules over a vast territory, and his most numerous subjects are bears, seals, 
and other denizens of the regions of ice." 

" How far off are his neighbors ?" somebody asked. 

" It is about fifty miles from Tossac to Upernavik " (U-^rrc-a-vik), was 



ARCTIC "HIGH LIFE." 



281 



the reply. " The latter is the capital of a district of the same name ; the 
district extends from latitude 70° to 74°, and includes some eight or ten 
settlements, each with a local governor and a few other inhabitants. In 
some of these settlements the governor is the only white inhabitant, and 
if he has any family his wife is pretty certain to be a native. 

"Dr. Hayes describes the Governor of Karsnk," the captain contin- 
ued, "as a native of Denmark, who was married to an Eskimo woman and 
lived in a hut rudely constructed of earth and stones; but it differed from 




THE MOST SOUTHERN HOUSE ON THE GLOBE. 



the native huts around it in having a section of government stove-pipe 
sticking through the roof, and in being lined with pine boards obtained 
from the chief of the district at Upernavik. ]STo other house was per- 
mitted, to be as elegant as the governor's, and by comparison with the rest 
it might be called a palace. 

" In the common houses the family and the dogs lived together, but 
the governor had a separate residence for his dogs a short distance from 
his own. His house had a window, while the others had none ; and while 
the single room of his dwelling was sixteen feet by twenty, the others 



2S2 



THE VOYAGE OE THE "VIVIAN." 




A GREENLAND GOVERNOR. 



were only eight feet by twelve. The governor had no trouble to main- 
tain his authority with the few natives under his control. They paid the 
taxes in oil and seal-skins with great promptness, and altogether conducted 
themselves like well-disposed subjects. 
The government purchases all the 
whalebone, oil, narwhal- ivory, eider- 
down, and other products of the region 
that the natives have to sell, and pays 
for them in money, or in goods from the 
storehouses." 

"And they do one thing which other 
governments might imitate to ad van- 
tage," said the major; "they sell to the 
native anything he wants in the way of 
food, clothing, tea, coffee, or other goods, 
with the single exception of spirits. All 
traffic in spirits is forbidden, and thus 
the natives are not in such a condition 

of demoralization as those of the Siberian coast. It is a pity Russia will 
not follow the example of Denmark, and forbid the traffic in spirits in her 
Siberian ports and among the natives." 

"The rule of Denmark in Greenland has been of the most paternal 
and conciliatory character," added Dr. Tonner. "Its object has been to 
make the natives useful subjects, instead of keeping them in a state of 
dependence; they are encouraged to be industrious and provident, and as 
they find their rulers set them a good example, they have nearly all em- 
braced Christianity." 

George wished to know something of the Greenland form of govern- 

o o o 

ment. 

"Greenland is a province of Denmark," was the reply, "and the cap- 
ital is at Julianshaab, near the southern extremity of the peninsula. It 
has a population of about seven thousand, and is divided into twelve dis- 
tricts; the inhabitants live along the coast, as the interior is quite unfit 
for human beings to dwell in. The governor lives at Julianshaab and has 
general jurisdiction over the country, but his power is far from absolute. 
The six northern districts are united into one inspectorate, and the six 
southern districts into another. Each inspectorate is controlled by an 'in- 
spector;' the governor at Julianshaab cannot overturn an inspector's de- 
crees, though he may secure his removal. Each town or hunting-station 
can send a representative to the parliament which meets at Julianshaab; 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GREENLAND. 



2S3 



the government is therefore one in which the people have a voice, and 
any matter, however trivial, may be brought up for the consideration of 
parliament. 

" Dr. Hayes visited the parliament house while the distinguished body 
was in session. He says, 'The house is a one-story plain building, about, 
sixteen by twenty feet, and built of pine boards. There is a single room 
inside which contains a long table flanked with rough benches, on which 
the parliamentarians sit. There are twelve members of parliament, and 
the thirteenth seat at the head of the table is occupied by the pastor of 
Julianshaab, who presides over the sessions. The members are dressed 
in seal-skin trousers and Guernsey frocks, and such a thing as a coat to 




THE GOVERNOR S RESIDENCE. 



cover the broad suspenders which cross the back would seem to be un- 
known.' 

" The government presents a cap to each member as a badge of office, 
and this cap must be worn while parliament is in session. It is made of 
scarlet cloth, with a broad gilt band around it; on the front of the cap are 
the royal emblems of Denmark, and above them the insignia of the colony 
of Greenland, in the shape of a polar bear standing on his hind-legs. The 



284 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



air of the legislative hall is redolent of fish, and nearly all the transactions 
relate in some way to fishing or hunting, generally the former. 

"For example: while Dr. Hayes was present at the session a native 
came to present a petition. He had lost his kyack while fishing, and pro- 
duced evidence that it was crushed by the ice. He had a -family to sup- 
port, and no means of living since he lost his boat. Parliament considered 
his case, and sent him to the government storehouse to work at eleven 
cents a day: his wife was allowed to draw a small allowance of food for 




A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT IN SESSION. 



herself and children from the storehouse every week, and the value of it 
was to be charged to the account of parliament. 

" There were several cases in which men had lost their boats or fishing 
implements; where the accident w T as not caused by their own carelessness, 
and the sufferers were thrown out of employment by their losses, they were 
reimbursed by the parliament. The reason of this is that it is desirable to 
keep the people from idleness; and, furthermore, the public revenues are 
increased by the industry of the inhabitants. In some cases the money is 
nut given, but loaned to the applicant for relief, and he is allowed to repay 
it in one or two years." 

" But suppose," said Fred, "a man repudiates his debt, and doesn't pay 
at all, what will the government do about it?" 

"If he does so from further misfortune," was the reply, " and the 
facts are shown, the time for payment is extended ; but if his refusal to 
pay is based on idleness, or unwillingness to meet his debts, there is a very 
effective way of bringing him to terms." 



THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 



285 




286 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



" What is that ?" 

"The amount of the loan is deducted from what he brings to the gov- 
ernment storehouse for sale; and if this plan fails, he is not allowed to 
buy anything there on any terms. The government has the only shops 
or stores in the country, and it is impossible to obtain tea, coffee, sugar, 
bread, guns, fishing implements, ammunition, or anything else, except at 
its warehouses. The obstinate man can't hold out long under these cir- 
cumstances. Crimes are very rare in Greenland ; small ones are punished 
by fines, and in capital cases the accused is sent to Copenhagen for trial. 

'•They have here an excellent system for encouraging industry. The 
government buys everything the native has to sell, and pays him in money 
or goods as he may prefer. There is a certain standard of prices for 




SHIPS LOADING WITH KRTOLITE AT IYIKTIjT, GREENLAND. 



every article brought in by a native until he has reached a certain figure; 
above that figure there is a sliding-scale of higher prices as an inducement 
to industry. 

"Perhaps you may not fully understand me. Well, suppose the stand- 
ard price of seal-skins to be ten cents, and that each man is expected to 
catch a thousand seals every year; he gets ten cents for each skin, whether 



THE ROYAL GREENLAND FISHING AND TRADING COMPANY. 



287 



he brings in a thousand or only a hundred. But for every skin between 
one thousand and twelve hundred he receives twelve cents; between 
twelve hundred and fourteen hundred, fifteen cents a skin ; and between 
fifteen hundred and two thousand he receives twenty cents a skin, or 
double the first standard. These are not the exact figures, but are given 
to illustrate the system." 

George wished to know w T hen this plan was adopted, and how long 
Greenland had been under the control of Denmark. 

"in the year 1781," said the Doctor, " the Royal Greenland Fishing 
and Trading Company was formed on much the same plan as the Hudson 
Bay and the East India companies. It received a charter giving it the 
exclusive control of commerce in Greenland and the management of the 
natives; fortunately the company was in the hands of men who thought 
more of doing good among the savages than of making money. Its profits, 
while fair, have not been large, and the prosperity of the people has been 
carefully looked after. Spirits and other injurious things have been ex- 
cluded, and no foreigner is allowed to trade with any Danish subject in 
Greenland. The natives have all the civilization they need, and for more 
than a century everything has gone on peaceably." 

Here the conversation was interrupted by the announcement that they 
would soon be in the harbor of Upernavik, unless prevented by accident. 




ENTERING A HARBOR IN GREENLAND. 



288 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



CHAPTER XX. 

SIGHTS IN GREENLAND.— NEWS FROM HOME.— END OF THE VOYAGE. 

AS they neared the shore Fred espied a boat of a different construction 
from the kyack, but evidently of native manufacture. It was com- 
ing out of a narrow passage near one of the islands, and the crew was 
evidently having a good time, to judge by the laughter that rung over the 
water. 

Fred called the attention of his friends to the novel craft, and wondered 
what it was. 

" That is an oomiak, or women's boat," said the captain. " If you 
permit an Irish bull, you may say it is manned by women." 

" Do you mean that all the crew are women V asked the youth ; " there 
are six or eight at the oars, and one in the stern with the steering-oar." 



AN OOMIAK. 



"Those at the oars are certainly women," replied the captain, "and the 
other may be either a man or a woman. This is how it happens : 

" The hyach that you saw at Littleton Island is a man's boat, and 
women are not allowed to use it. The open boat, such as you see, is only 
for women, and a man would consider himself disgraced by being one of 



BOATS ROWED BY WOMEN. 289 

its crew. He might sit in the stern and steer the boat, but it would be 
contrary to custom for him to handle an oar." 

"Anyway it is a comfortable looking craft," replied the youth, "and 
the women seem to understand perfectly how to manage it." 

"They are very expert in the management of the oomiak" was the 
response, "and are accustomed to it from infancy. The boat is apparently 
frail in construction, but it can sail well, and is of great use to the natives 
for purposes of transportation. A kyack is intended for hunting and fish- 
ing, and has no place for carrying anything more than its occupant, while 
an oomiak can hold a great deal of freight." 

Further investigation led to a description of this style of boat. 

The oomiak may be anywhere from fifteen to forty feet in length. It 
consists of a framework of poles securely lashed together with thongs of 
seal-skin, and held apart at the top by thwarts which serve as seats. The 
bottom is fiat, and has a rude floor, but a stranger must step very carefully 
to keep his feet from going through the bottom. 

When the framework is ready it is covered Math seal-skins, and as no 
single skin can be large enough for a boat, there must.be a number of 
skins sewn together. The women perform this work with sinews, and 
they do it so well that not a drop of water can leak through. The frame 
is turned bottom upward and the covering is spread over it, and fastened 
to the rail with strong thongs. When the covering is put on it is moist; 
it shrivels as it dries in the sun, and becomes hard as leather, but it is so 
full of oil that it has a very slippery feeling, It is impervious to water, 
and will last a long time unless brought against hard substances. When 
it dries it becomes translucent, and when you are a passenger in an oomiak 
you can see how deep you are in the water without looking over the side. 

The next day Fred had an opportunity to inspect an oomiak which 
was drawn up on the beach at Upernavik, and also to have a near view 
of its crew. It is safe to say he was fully as much interested in the latter 
as in the former. 

The crew consisted of seven young women, six of .them " before the 
mast," while the seventh was the commander. Their costume was the 
funniest that the youth had ever seen worn by a boat's crew, and he was 
quite sure it would make a sensation among the young ladies of his ac- 
quaintance who are fond of rowing. 

The dress was of furs and skins. Beginning at the feet, there were 
long boots of seal-skin reaching to the knee, where they met pantaloons of 
the same material ; the boots were of various colors, and some of them 
quite tastefully painted, and the trousers had bright stripes on the side or 

19 



290 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



in front, formed by sewing in pieces of leather of bright hues. Above 
the trousers was a jacket, with a bright stripe just below the waist, and 
terminating at the throat in white fur or some other ornamental material. 
The hair was gathered in a knot at the top of the head, and altogether the 
costume of these Greenland boat-women was by no means unhandsome. 




THE OOMIAK AND ITS CREW. 



Fred asked what were the uses to which this boat was applied. He 
was told that it carried the governor wherever he wished to so in the 
neighborhood ; and when the men went out hunting or fishing in their 
kyaeks, the women frequently followed in the oomiah to bring home the 
game or fish that might be obtained. " They go long distances," said his 
informant, " and the women do not hesitate to go out in any kind of 
weather." Ordinarily the boat is rowed by its crew, but it has a mast, 
and when the wind is fair a sail is spread and the breeze utilized. If the 
owner can afford to buy canvas for his sail, it is made out of that material; 
but if he cannot endure the expense, the sail is made of seal-skins. 

There are two anchorages at Upernavik, one being an open roadstead, 
where ships have no shelter from southerly or westerly winds, while the 
other is a landlocked harbor. The former is directly in front of the set- 
tlement, and is used by ships that intend to remain only a few hours ; the 
latter is behind the town, and beyond a rocky ridge, but, though giving 
perfect shelter to ships, it is not very easy to enter. Captain Jones de- 
cided to anchor in the outer harbor until they could communicate with 
the governor, and determine whether they would proceed at once or re- 
main a few days. 



ARRIVAL IN A GREENLAND PORT. 



291 



Major Clapp and Dr. Tonner went on shore as soon as the Vivian had 
anchored, and made a call upon the inspector. The latter said he was ex- 
pecting ships from the South, but none had arrived, with the exception of 
two or three Scotch whalers who had gone forward to look for whales in 
Melville Bay. The yearly ship from Copenhagen would be due in a few 
days — in fact, she might arrive at any moment — and meantime the stran- 
gers were welcome to anything in his power to give them. 

He was greatly surprised on learning the route by which the Vivian 
had arrived at Upernavik, and heartily congratulated our friends on their 
success in reaching the pole. Tie said that a supply of provisions and five 
hundred tons of coal had been left there the previous year by an Ameri- 
can war-ship, for the use of any exploring expedition that might need it, 
and especially any ship from the United States. 




UPERNAVIK. 



The major and Doctor returned to the Vivian with the information 
they had obtained. Commander Bronson said he thought no one could 
have a better right to the coal than themselves; he had expected to find 
coal at Upernavik and was not disappointed. The engineer reported that 



292 THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 

they had less than seven tons remaining, and therefore a new supply 
would be very acceptable. 

The Vivian immediately proceeded to the inner harbor, and in a little 
while was safely anchored where no ordinary wind could disturb her. 
While she was being taken from the outer to the inner anchorage, Com- 
mander Bronson went on shore with the major to pay a visit to the in- 
spector, and arrange for such assistance as they could have for taking in 
coal. Fred and George occupied their time in an inspection of Uperna- 
vik, and as the place was small it did not take long. 

The inspector's house was, as might be expected, the most elaborate 
building; but even that was not large. There were about twenty other 
houses, all occupied by Eskimos, and altogether the town had less than a 
hundred inhabitants. There were a good many dogs wandering about; 
some of them were inclined to familiarity not of a friendly nature, but by 
vigorous flourishing of sticks and flinging an occasional stone they kept 
the brutes from doing harm. The houses were anything but cleanly in 
appearance, and neither of the youths had any desire for a permanent res- 
idence in Upernavik. 

Back of the settlement, and on the slope of the ridge separating it 
from the inner harbor, is the cemetery. There are crosses and stones to 
indicate the position of the graves, and little enclosures (or mounds) of 
stone. Very little vegetation can be seen at Upernavik, and the ground 
is so hard that there is rarely any attempt to dig deeply to form a grave. 
Bodies are placed on the surface and covered with stones: unless the work 
is thoroughly done, the remains become exposed in course of time. The 
youths found one of the coffins nearly uncovered, and through its broken 
lid the occupant could be plainly discerned. 

The inspector returned the visit of the officers of the Vivian, and re- 
mained to dine with them. Most of the men of Upernavik were away in 
pursuit of seal or walrus, and the inspector said he would not be -able to 
give any assistance in loading the coal be} T ond showing the best way of 
getting around the harbor. There were two whale-boats in the harbor, 
which he kindly loaned to the captain; the latter said that by using these 
boats he could easily load in two or three days all the coal he needed for 
getting to New York. 

A hundred tons of coal were taken on board by using the whale-boats 
as barges, and towing them back and forth between ship and shore. While 
the coaling was in progress the inspector asked Commander Bronson and 
his officers to take tea with him ; the invitation included Fred and George, 
and was gladly accepted by all concerned. 



RECEPTION IN THE INSPECTOR'S HOUSE. 



293 



The house was comfortable, though not large, and our friends passed a 
delightful hour in the society of the host and his family. They had tea 
and coffee, and a variety of little cakes and good things prepared by the 
lady of the house, together with some canned fruits which came from 
Europe or America. They were particularly struck with the flowers which 
were kept growing in the windows of the house, and learned that every 
inhabitant of Greenland who can afford it keeps an abundance of living 
plants in his dwelling. Dr. Tonner said he had observed the same thing 
in Siberia, where the homes of people in comfortable circumstances often 
resemble conservatories. 




THE INSPECTOR AND HIS FAMILY. 



When the coal was all on board, and farew r ell visits had been made to 
the governor's house, the order for departure was given. Just as the an- 
chor left the bottom, and the ship was beginning to move, a native came 



294 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 



paddling his Jcyack into the harbor in great haste, and yelling at the top of 
his voice. 

It was not easy to make out his meaning, but a streak of smoke on the 
sky served as an interpreter. A steamer was coming! 

The engines were stopped, and the anchor dropped once more to the 
bottom. The cloud of smoke increased, and in a little while a steamer 
Hying the American flag came in sight in front of Upernavik and cast an- 
chor in the outer harbor. The crew of the Vivian cheered lustily as they 
caught sight of their national banner, and there were tears of joy in the eyes 
of our young friends. Our country's flag is a most welcome sight when 
we are far from home and in a foreign land. Especially dear must it have 
seemed to those arctic explorers after their sojourn of two long winters in 
the regions around the pole ! 




THE NEW ARRIVAL. 



It was a ship of the United States Navy, and as soon as the anchor was 
dropped she sent an officer on board the Vivian, with a letter-bag addressed 
to Commander Bronson. And what recent dates ! Twenty-two days from 
New York ! It seemed to carry them home in an instant, and for a while 
some of the party forgot that they were yet in the far North and within 
the Arctic Circle. 

There were letters for everybody — for Fred and George, as w r ell as for 
the elders of the party, and also for the junior officers and the crew. For 
an hour or more there was silence on board the ship as the seals were bro- 
ken and the contents of the missives eagerly devoured. 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 295 

The majority of the letters were private, and therefore we will not ex- 
amine them. Fred wondered how it had been found out that they were 
coming that way, and why a ship had been sent to meet them at Uperna- 
vik. A slip cut from a newspaper and enclosed in one of his letters told 
the story. It read as follows : 

" It will be remembered that in October of last year a wild-goose was killed on Lake St. Charles, 
near Quebec, which had the words "Vivian, North-pole, June 9, 18 — ," stamped on the feathers of 
one wing. As the Vivian was known to have gone in search of the pole, the stamp is supposed to 
indicate the accomplishment of her object. It was thought she would return by way of Smith's 
Sound, if possible, and the Government will send a steamer in the hope of meeting her at one of 
the Greenland ports early in July. Letters intended for this ship should be sent in care of the 
commandant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard not later than June 10th. The steamer will proceed north 
as far as may be consistent with safety, and if no news is obtained of the explorers, it will return 
to New York during the month of September." 

So it was one of the carrier-pigeons, improvised according to George's 
suggestion, that gave the news of the Vivian and her successful voyage to 
the North-pole ! 

Both ships remained at Upernavik long enough for the Vivian to re- 
ceive a plentiful supply of all the provisions she needed for her voyage to 
New York. They sailed together, but were separated in a gale just after 
passing Cape Farewell, at the southern extremity of Greenland, and did 
not meet again until they were off Fire Island, about forty miles from 
Sandy Hook. Almost side by side they crossed the bar and entered the 
capacious harbor at the mouth of the Hudson River, made a brief halt at 
Quarantine, and then continued on their course till they dropped anchor 
between the Battery and Bedloe's Island. The Vivian thus completed the 
voyage from the Golden Gate to Manhattan Island by way of the north- 
west passage and the polar sea. 

Four clays after her arrival a telegram from Gran ton, Scotland, an- 
nounced that the Gamhetta had reached Reykjavik, in Iceland, and after 
taking coal and stores would proceed to Havre. The youths could not 
understand why the telegram should be dated at Gran ton until the major 
informed them that there was a line of steamers between that port and 
Reykjavik. " We shall probably receive letters from our French friends," 
said he, " as soon as the mail can bring them, and also the letter-bag we 
intrusted to the Gambetta. They would be very sure not to miss the 
steamer to Granton." 

Sure enough, the Liverpool steamer, a fortnight later, brought the 
Vivian's letter-bag for the Navy Department, and also a packet of letters 
in care of the postmaster of New York. The packet was to be delivered 



296 



THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN." 








REYKJAVIK, ICELAND. 



to Commander Bronson, or an) 7 officer of the Vivian, or held to await the 

arrival of that vessel. Among the letters was one for George from the 

young officer who assisted him in the preparation of " Parry and Paris." 

With George's permission we translate the material part of his friend's 

missive : 

# * #**■** -x- 

" After separating from the Vivian we steered south-east, and reached 
the meridian of Greenwich about latitude 85°. There we encountered 
much ice, and hesitated two or three days before entering the pack, which 
contained so many bergs as to be very dangerous. At last we found an 
opening in the pack, and worked our way slowly through the lanes and 
among the floes to latitude 84°. There the pack closed in upon ns, and 
we had a narrow escape from being crushed between two enormous floes. 
With a great deal of difficulty we sawed and blasted away the ice sufficient- 
ly to reduce the pressure, and bring the vessel to an even keel. 



THE END OF THE VOYAGE. 297 

" We found that the ice was drifting southward, the same as in Cap- 
tain Parry's sledge journey, and for some time we had hopes that it would 
enable us to get out before the close of the season. But our progress was 
so slow that the end of August found us in latitude 81° 20' north, longi- 
tude 20° east, and it became necessary to look for winter-quarters. On 
the 1st of September the ice opened sufficiently to enable us to enter a 
small bay in the most westerly of the ' Seven Islands,' and as soon as we 
were inside it closed again. We had hoped to reach Hecla Cove, where 
Parry's ship remained during his attempt to reach the pole, but this was 
impossible, owing to the drift of the ice. 

"We passed the winter in much the same way as the previous one, 
but missed greatly the company of our good friends the Americans. We 
were in less danger from the ice than before, on account of the shelter 
which our bay afforded, and we were able to make hunting excursions on 
the ice. We found that the Dutch navigators had been there before us, 
and on the rocky shores there were the skeletons of unfortunate sailors 
who had died there. The solid ground makes it impossible to dig a grave, 
and the only mode of sepulture is to place the coffin on the ground and 
cover it with a few stones. Sometimes even this was not done, and in 
course of time the skeletons became fleshless through the action of the 
winds and the intense cold. 

"In the spring we had some hunting experiences, and made sledge 
journeys over the ice to the northern extremity of Spitzbergen, but dis- 
covered nothing of importance. We were all glad when the breaking up 
of the ice released us, and the drift carried us to the westward. We 
escaped from the ice-fields without serious injury, and then sailed past 
the island of Jan Mayen to Iceland. We tried to land on Jan Mayen, but 
were prevented by the fog, which made it extremely dangerous to seek a 
harbor. From Jan Mayen we sailed to Reykjavik, and here we are once 
more in communication with the civilized world. We hoped to learn some- 
thing about the Vivian on our arrival here, but are disappointed; we shall 
look for letters from you when w T e reach Havre, and. feel confident that 

you will not be far behind us in reaching home." 

# ■* -* * -x- * * * 

Letters had been sent to Havre, bearing the congratulations of the Viv- 
ian's party to all on board the Garnbetta, immediately on the publication 
of the despatch from Granton ; consequently each expedition learned of 
the safety of the other. And so ends the story of 

THE "VIVIAN'S" VOYAGE. 



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